Stone Reader
Jet Films LLC | Release Date: February 12, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneJohn Petrakis
Moskowitz may soon find himself in the same boat as many of the artists he is analyzing, because Stone Reader is going to be one tough act to follow. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A deep, exhaustive, and moving piece of do-it-yourself detective work. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
It's ''Moskowitz's March,'' really -- and it ends in stirring victory Read full review
90
VarietyScott Foundas
A debut of enormous craft, surety and resourcefulness -- a superlative, soul-baring non-fiction work that will generate torrential word-of-mouth among auds lucky enough to catch it. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film's recurring image is that of a butterfly fluttering around a flower, a lovely symbol of the reader drawn to a novel's nectar. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A meandering documentary, frustrating when Moskowitz has Mossman in his sights and still delays bagging him while talking to other sources. But at the end, we forgive his procrastination (and remember, with Laurence Sterne and Tristam Shandy that procrastination can be an art if it is done delightfully). Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
A remarkable accomplishment, an absorbing documentary about the joy of reading that's also a positively gripping literary mystery. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
While he dithers around in search of a movie and a theme, Moskowitz meets intriguing people -- almost all of them older men. And because they are hungry readers, they have interesting things to say. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Enchanting and diverting documentary. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
To anyone whose soul lives or dies by reading or writing or both, the movie is a total thrill, and not just as a debate on the nature of the one-shot writer or the decline of publishing. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
I've never seen a movie that paid more heartfelt tribute to the power of artistic invention. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
A marvelous literary thriller that gets at the way books can stay with people forever. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
We finally learn much more about Moskowitz than about Mossman, and more about Mossman than about his novel, but Moskowitz's passion for books is irresistible. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
In the end, Stone Reader gives us an old-fashioned romantic's view of writers and their craft--complete with the hint of a happy ending. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The film's strengths can't be separated from its shortcomings. Despite its heavyweight supporting cast, Stone Reader mostly pays tribute to the enthusiasm and purity of the amateur. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
An unexpectedly warm valentine to the solitary joy of reading in an increasingly post-literate age. It's also a gripping mystery yarn involving obsession, a long-forgotten book and a shadowy author who appears to have vanished off the face of the Earth. Read full review
70
SalonLaura Miller
What Stone Reader offers that's new is its portrayal of reading not as a supremely civilized and soulful activity but as a lonely, thwarting and sometimes painfully embarrassing one. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The result of Moskowitz's sleuthing is Stone Reader, a combination mystery, book celebration and -- sorry to say -- intrusively annoying self-portrait of the filmmaker. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
There's a terrific short film somewhere inside Mark Moskowitz's feature-length documentary Stone Reader. Unfortunately, it's buried within a flabby 128-minute slog that feels like a rough draft nobody had the heart to edit down. Read full review
60
Washington PostLinton Weeks
Like the novel, the film is occasionally overwrought and overwritten. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Heartfelt but somewhat bloated documentary that's partly an homage and partly a literary mystery. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
There's a lot of fascinating talk here and a genuine passion for ideas and words. But it's also a case where the messenger is so grating that we feel the perverse urge to kill the message that he carries just to spite him. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
The film has been hailed as something of a literary thriller; it's not. The stultifying pace and Moskowitz's filmmaking laziness are forgivable, but it's exasperating and indicative of our low expectations for the documentary form that a film that taps the likes of Leslie Fiedler could be so devoid of ideas. Reading is fundamental; so is thinking. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The film is a disappointment, and at more than two hours' running time, a very long disappointment. Read full review
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