Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Fathom Events | Release Date: September 21, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SlashfilmBill BriaJan 26, 2024
While Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui's documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story recounts Reeve's journey with appropriate tenderness, it isn't a hagiography. It consistently reminds audiences that this was a real human being, and not actually a savior from another star. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 26, 2024
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is a moving, wrenching, compellingly well-made documentary about Reeve’s life that inevitably ends up centering on his accident and its aftermath. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 26, 2024
One of the aspects that makes Super/Man so satisfying is that for a biographical film in which tragedy and loss play such a central part, it’s rich in evidence of hope and kindness, gratitude and the resilience of the human spirit. Read full review
85
TheWrapMatthew CreithJan 26, 2024
“Super/Man” is emotional, resilient, and inspiring, opening up private battles to the general public. Read full review
83
IndieWireSiddhant AdlakhaJan 26, 2024
As much as it’s a movie about one man’s struggle, it’s a family drama too, and the way his paralysis shifts their dynamic over the years is enrapturing to watch. Read full review
83
The Daily BeastNick SchagerJan 21, 2024
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story paints a rich portrait of Reeve as an individual, celebrity, activist, and family man, bolstered by commentary from his children and friends and, additionally, from Reeve himself. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonDec 5, 2024
If you happen to need a good cry, you can’t go wrong with Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, a documentary about decent people, bewildering misfortune and how bad luck can have a ripple effect—especially if you are lucky enough to have people who love you. If you don’t want to cry, you probably will. Read full review
80
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiNov 7, 2024
While Super/Man touches upon the role, its impact on Reeve’s career and personal life, the documentary is more of a touching ode to the complicated, charming man behind the cape, and the perseverance he showed following his accident. Read full review
80
EmpireIana MurrayOct 30, 2024
As far as documentaries go, this doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but its emotional account of Reeve’s life is a fitting tribute to a true superhuman. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyOct 16, 2024
Astutely judged for the most part, and reflective on what Reeve meant to people in all phases of his life, the British documentary Super/Man is an emotional rollercoaster with some undeniably walloping moments. The relationships that quite literally saved Reeve come to the fore. Read full review
80
Time OutEd GibbsJan 26, 2024
It is a rich and intensely moving experience. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAmber WilkinsonJan 26, 2024
Instead of treating the star’s life chronologically, they move between a consideration of his career and his spinal injury advocacy work in the wake of the devastating 1995 horse-riding accident that left him paralysed from the neck down. The result has the engaging feel of a dialogue between the pre- and post-accident Reeve and his family as his views and his life shifted as a consequence. Read full review
80
ColliderRoss BonaimeJan 26, 2024
The editing in Super/Man is perfectly handled, taking what could’ve been a straightforward documentary and turning a life into a collection of what makes us who we are—both the good and the bad. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 5, 2025
As documentary biographies go, it's workmanlike but conventional – a solid effort and worthwhile investment of time though by no means a transformative or perspective-shifting film. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 11, 2024
Super/Man should introduce many people, young and older, to a fine actor’s work and, more importantly, to what Reeve accomplished for himself and so many others in the life he was dealt. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzSep 20, 2024
All in all, this is a thoughtful, remarkable piece of nonfiction, working in an accessible commercial vein but doing its best not to take the easy way into any aspect of Reeve’s story. Read full review
75
The Film StageDan MeccaJan 26, 2024
Despite its straightforward, perhaps manipulative heart-tugging nature, this film is impossible not to like because of the goodwill of its subject and foundation he created. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaDec 5, 2024
Reeve’s bond with his fellow actor Robin Williams also makes up one of the documentary’s meatiest threads, adding depth to the character study. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 10, 2024
Super/Man is a weeper, to be sure, for the reminder it brings to fans that this Man of Steel was only flesh and blood. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Xan BrooksNov 4, 2024
On screen, the man play-acted the qualities of courage and resilience. Off it, he came to embody them too. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeOct 30, 2024
A worthy, if workmanlike, tribute. Read full review
40
The GuardianRyan GilbeyOct 31, 2024
Though the interviews with the Reeve children are poignant and insightful, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui show no signs of trusting their material. Read full review
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