Stevie
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: March 28, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It's no accident that this movie is named after both the filmmaker and his subject. It stands with the most thoughtful releases of recent months, and will linger in memory. Read full review
100
USA TodayMike Clark
It's hard to recall the last movie that has left such an emotionally searing question dangling in the mind: "What if ... ?" Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The tragic tale that emerges is full of powerful lessons and impenetrable mysteries Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Neither condemning nor forgiving, the film is a model of documentary evenhandedness, even though James makes no claims of objectivity. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Stevie seems destined to end the way it does, and is the more courageous and powerful for it. A satisfying ending would have been a lie. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
So troubling and unflinchingly honest that watching it becomes a test of empathy and compassion. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Gripping in its intimacy. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Grueling but ultimately rewarding new documentary. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
It becomes clear that all this man-child craves is to be loved and, thus, saved. Read full review
80
VarietyEddie Cockrell
A forceful, affecting experience. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The roots of Steve James's disturbing documentary lie in youthful idealism. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A heart-stirrer at times. More often, it's a heartbreaker. Read full review
75
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Overly long and uncomfortably intrusive, but never less than compelling. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Without excusing Stevie's behavior, the film makes a compelling case for how a child molester can grow from the bitter seeds of neglect and abuse. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Stevie is compelling, real-life drama: bleak and disturbing, but illuminating all the same. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
A painful documentary film, partly because of its subject, partly because of the troubling questions raised by the filmmaker's approach. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Of course, James is exploiting Stevie, but the peculiar power of this film lies in James' indirect acknowledgment of it and his hope that his film has some point and value. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Because Stevie has none of the glamour of "Hoop Dreams," with its portrait of gifted teenage athletes struggling for glory, it is not nearly as likable a film; but in its earnest, plodding way it is every bit as deep. Read full review
60
TimeRichard Schickel
Can one recommend this unblinking film to the average moviegoer, out for a good time? Only in this way: if James and his crew can spend years with these blighted souls, surely you can spend two hours with them, exploring compassion's outer limits. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Foreigners often comment on the peculiar American combination of superficial friendliness and profound indifference. Stevie epitomizes a related national trait -- the belief in the curative powers of publicity. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
In the end, Stevie is a relentlessly messy, sometimes trying picture of family dysfunction, official neglect and personal tragedy, a disturbing redneck soap opera about real people and real consequences in which the protagonist--like the filmmaker--often proves to be as unlikable as he is sympathetic. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
By the film's self-congratulatory final shot, Stevie has become less a portrait of a sorry young man's difficult life than the story of auteurist arrogance and self-deception run amok. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleC.W. Nevius
Despite good reviews at this year's Sundance Film Festival, this is the kind of squishy lost cause that gives liberal guilt a bad name. Read full review
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