Sidney
Apple TV+ | Release Date: September 23, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinKim HughesSep 23, 2022
Legacies don’t come more dazzling. Sidney is a fitting tribute. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 23, 2022
The film isn’t groundbreaking, but its subject most certainly was, and Hudlin has the good sense to get out of the way and give Poitier the spotlight, which shines all the brighter through the eyes of the talents who followed in his footsteps. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 23, 2022
Hudlin’s embracing film reminds us that there was a lot of history that unfolded around this one man, and a lot of change came about thanks to this one extraordinary life of achievement and humility, grace and principled defiance. Read full review
85
CNNBrian LowrySep 23, 2022
Sidney, a documentary from director Reginald Hudlin produced by Oprah Winfrey, does the actor justice, providing context, depth and considerable warmth in chronicling his remarkable life and trailblazing career. Read full review
83
IndieWireChristian BlauveltSep 23, 2022
It makes you recognize, through the force of its telling, why the story of Poitier’s life matters. And will matter forever. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentSep 26, 2022
An apt tribute to a major figure in film history. The talking heads and archive clips do the job — but hearing it told by Sidney Poitier himself is the real treat. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 20, 2022
This documentary is a spirited rebuke to the “sellout” narrative which has been allowed to grow up around his career, and a paean of praise to his commitment, talent and heroism. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeSep 28, 2022
Even though Sidney takes a fairly elementary look at Poitier’s career, it’s still extraordinary to see the contributions this man had on the world lined up in this way. Poitier left an indelible change on entertainment, the culture, and society at large, and Sidney makes us aware that this world wouldn’t be the same without Poitier. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 27, 2022
Director Reginald Hudlin’s Sidney was made with the full and keenly interested cooperation of the Poitier family, following a template of access many documentaries favor or, in some cases, settle for. This is one of the good ones. Read full review
75
The Associated PressMark KennedySep 23, 2022
It glows with respect for a man who earned it. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneySep 21, 2022
Combining as it does great admiration with an acknowledgment of flaws, “Sidney” is like Ethan Hawke’s recent HBO Max documentary about Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, “The Last Movie Stars.” Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSep 21, 2022
Even though the film is by the numbers, it offers younger generations who know nothing of Poitier’s life and groundbreaking work a look at this important actor and activist. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIan SpellingSep 21, 2022
In the end, Sidney is informative—it’s exciting to hear from him and from those who loved him, and from some of the people he influenced. But as evidenced by his two memoirs, This Life (1980) and Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000), there’s much more in Poitier’s life and legacy that this documentary fails to explore. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleSep 23, 2022
There is surely more to be mined from this extraordinary, complicated trailblazer’s life than one suitably enjoyable love letter to his brilliance and bravery. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeSep 23, 2022
Reginald Hudlin’s documentary about Sidney Poitier should be considered the beginning, not the end, of appraising the prolific actor’s career. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 20, 2022
Expect a breezy affair with good-natured laughter and low stakes. You’ll learn some things and remember others en route to watching as Poitier’s legacy is reinforced with a carefully curated mix of family and friends driven by the sole goal to immortalize their hero. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesSep 12, 2022
Sidney works more as an explainer for why Sidney Poitier remains such an important figure in American history—not just Hollywood history—than it does as a warts-and-all biography of Sidney the man. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsSep 26, 2022
Sidney works as a tribute, or a beginner’s course. More probing questions about Poitier’s “meaning,” the impossibility of his position, the way it served as a measuring stick for taking stock of Black politics over many decades — these are problems bigger than, and largely beyond, this movie. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 22, 2022
The inescapable impression is of a picture buckling beneath the weight of its subject’s achievements. Yet there are moments when the focus shifts and the movie shrugs off its hagiographic shackles. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRobert DanielsSep 20, 2022
Sidney functions as a loving memorial to the pioneering Black movie star who passed earlier this year, but it never suffices as more than a tepid first draft of his life. And it is never as groundbreaking as Poitier’s best work. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanSep 22, 2022
The early sections of Sidney are much stronger than what comes later, because it is Poitier himself telling the tale in interview footage and setting the expansive, very dramatic tone. He knew how to tell a story so that each nuance would make itself felt. Read full review
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