Spellbound
THINKFilm | Release Date: April 30, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
PremiereBrooke Hauser
While it may be excruciating to watch a speller miss a word by a letter, it's just as exciting to watch another kid jump the hurdle. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Resembles a Christopher Guest movie in that it follows obsessed, socially awkward folks on a seminal journey in their lives. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy Burr
At its most unsettling level, Spellbound asks us to consider what words are for and what childhood should be. It's as profound as anything you'll see this year, and, yes, it should have won the Oscar. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Thrilling little epic set in the bewildering arena of the English language. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The end result is the best documentary you'll see this year, as thrilling a competition as any Super Bowl and as suspenseful a story as any Hitchcock film. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Not only is it an enormously entertaining study of a curiously American institution, it also manages to be a nail-biting competition film, an engrossing group character study and a wonderfully graceful comedy of manners. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Enough drama, humor and unfiltered nail-biting suspense to put all the thrill-mongering screenwriters in Hollywood to shame. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Just might be the most action-packed suspense thriller of the summer. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
The movie becomes a nail-biter, the audience hanging on every letter. Who could have anticipated that a spelling competition would yield such a heartbreaking thriller? Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
At a time when so many in this country are at odds about what represents America at its best, it's refreshing and then some to see a film that everyone can agree is an example of exactly that. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleSarah Hepola
As good, old-fashioned dorkfests go, it doesn't get much better than the National Spelling Bee, with its arcane words, bespectacled competitors, and stinging little bell. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Boasts all of the drama and suspense of any reality TV show, but it actually stars smart people. And they're kids. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
I love this movie, and I love the pride, spirit and sportsmanship of the kids who represent the best of American pluck and luck. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The terrific Spellbound really isn't about the ability to tear words apart letter by letter. It's about nerve-wracking competitiveness. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
By the time they're onstage, your pulse is pounding right along with theirs. Spell this movie: g-r-e-a-t. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
More to the point of this marvelous film, who knew there were kids as heroic, in their various ways, as these valiant super-spellers?
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
For the committed word nerd, spelling has its intrinsic pleasures, but in Spellbound it's another example of the peculiarly American mania for turning everything -- even play --into work. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Blitz captures the intensity of the bee itself, showing how it frazzles the nerves of even the most well-prepared spellers as, one by one, their colleagues and competitors drop away. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
Blitz shows us these kids in all their quirkiness and dorkiness, letting them do much of the talking as he records them and their families at home. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Could hardly be more suspenseful if it were scripted. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Consider it an athletic contest of the mind--ESPN does, as the sports network regularly televises the finals. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Loses its momentum just when you'd expect the suspense to mount -- at the competition itself. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
One of the many pleasures in Spellbound is watching the reactions of these young brainiacs, all under the age of 14, as they first hear the word they are being asked to spell (''Is that even a word?'' seems to be a common thought passing through their heads.) Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
As we watch them drilling with flashcards and worksheets, we hope they will win, but we're not sure what good it will do them. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Entertaining documentary. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
An enthralling, suspenseful documentary about spelling bees. Read full review
70
Village VoiceEd Park
In their randomness, the bee words take on an oracular quality--shades of kabbalistic gematria, or the "Sortes Vergilanae," the supernatural attributed to symbols on paper. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMerle Bertrand
Draws an unspoken parallel with, of all things, beauty pageants, complete with unnaturally driven kids and nervously supportive parents desperately trying not to appear too pushy. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Can't help but be deeply engrossing, as it taps into a highly charged atmosphere that one parent dubs "a different form of child abuse." Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This could be a documentary about reading the body language of childhood. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Casts a potent spell. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Despite rave reviews, film festival awards, and an Oscar nomination, Spellbound comes across as little more than a marginally compelling documentary -– the kind of movie that would be at home on PBS. Read full review
60
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Docu dispassionately examines this strange phenomenon of anachronistic Americana, created as a newspaper promotion in 1925. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Many of the kids seem to be social outcasts of one kind or another, but Spellbound, which will show on cable later this year, doesn't dig deep enough to disturb the movie's relentless feel-good tone. Read full review
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