Paul Goodman Changed My Life
Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: October 19, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsOct 19, 2011
Perhaps it's a tribute to the breadth of Goodman's life that even after 90 minutes, it feels as if we've just scratched the surface. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMark HolcombOct 18, 2011
As bluntly humanist and free-ranging as its subject, this brisk take on the life of poet, sociologist, educator, psychologist, and general pain-in-the-ass gadfly Paul Goodman is as much endangered-species doc as biography. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 5, 2012
Filled with abundant evidence of Goodman as a public intellectual, assembled by its director Jonathan Lee, who believes the time is here for a rediscovery of his ideas. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineBill WeberOct 17, 2011
This bio-documentary of a New Left godfather presents a formidable character simpatico with today's zeitgeist in his championing of "spontaneous uprising." Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallJan 5, 2012
In this heady documentary, TV footage of left-wing social critic Paul Goodman being interviewed by conservative host William F. Buckley Jr. in 1966 makes one realize how low public discourse in America has sunk since then: despite the men's political differences, their freewheeling discussion, touching on topics from education to pornography, is playful instead of rancorous. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 18, 2011
I suspect that he would have approved of Mr. Lee's film, and not only because it approves so unreservedly of him. Paul Goodman Changed My Life may not have that effect on every viewer, but it has a passionate, almost prophetic sense of the impact that a writer and thinker can have on his times and the future. Read full review
70
VarietyRonnie ScheibOct 16, 2011
Reminiscences about Goodman and readings of his poetry are played over old pictures that capture his singularly seductive appeal and lively sense of humor. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichOct 18, 2011
Mostly though, it feels like we're watching a superficial gloss on Goodman's CV rather than a probing interrogation of his legacy. For the choir only. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 5, 2012
As documentaries go, it's an able introduction that doesn't make its subject nearly as relevant to our current discontents as it could. Read full review
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