Public Speaking
Rialto Pictures | Release Date: February 23, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
USA TodayRobert BiancoJan 10, 2024
A fabulously enjoyable documentary from Martin Scorsese that may introduce a new generation to this incredibly sharp, often stinging, but famously unproductive writer. [22 Nov 2010, p.12B]
90
The New York TimesGinia BellafanteJan 10, 2024
In “Public Speaking,” Martin Scorsese’s enormously enjoyable and perceptive documentary about her, Ms. Lebowitz’s endearing narcissism is a study in the notion that arrogance and insecurity are largely two sides of the same cocktail coaster. Read full review
90
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonFeb 22, 2011
The quick-witted malcontent, a Morristown, New Jersey, refugee who arrived at Port Authority in 1969, is the best kind of New Yorker: one with a long memory who's averse to nostalgia. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastRonald K. FriedJan 10, 2024
The film makes a choice: it ignores the psychic wounds that created the witty and prickly bow in which Lebowitz wraps herself. But this approach feels exactly right, and with Public Speaking Martin Scorsese has created a fine film that may be as close as her fans will get to the book Fran Lebowitz seems unable to write. Read full review
80
SalonHeather HavrileskyJan 10, 2024
Even if her writers block continues for another three decades, Lebowitz herself remains undeniably fascinating. Scorsese's documentary offers us a long overdue taste of her unique, queasily accurate perspectives on our culture -- always right, never fair and never disappointing. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineBruce ElderJan 10, 2024
This is a movie with a lot of intelligence and ideas, about someone with a lot of both, for people who, even if they lack one or both of those qualities, appreciate them. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid FearFeb 22, 2011
By the end of this funny, insightful doc, you get a sense of an extraordinary mind that both fueled and fed the zeitgeist. Don't miss it. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJan 10, 2024
This may not be Martin Scorsese's most sophisticated film, but it actually takes a smart filmmaker to understand that, with a subject like Fran Lebowitz, the best thing you can do is let her talk. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJan 10, 2024
Without any framing background information, this affectionate documentary and its continual monologues can feel a little too insidery and indulgent. [22 Nov 2010, p.G9]
63
Slant MagazineLauren WissotJan 10, 2024
If you’re a longtime fan of the truly iconoclastic essayist...expecting to learn what makes her tick then Public Speaking, Martin Scorsese’s loving profile of the early bloomer who subsequently spent a decade with “writer’s blockade,” is certain to disappoint. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian LowryJan 10, 2024
Intermittently amusing and surely interesting, "Lebowitz" falls victim to the classic faux pas of overstaying its welcome. Read full review
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