The Amazing Johnathan Documentary
Hulu | Release Date: August 16, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistJordan RuimyJul 17, 2019
Berman ultimately turns his incredible meta-story into an ode to documentary filmmaking. And its exhilarating stuff because you have absolutely no clue where this movie is going to take you next. Berman’s doc keeps pulling the rug from under you, and it’s a high-wire act of reinvention that rewards the viewer at every step. Read full review
90
Film ThreatAnthony Ray BenchJul 17, 2019
There’s a darkly unique spin to it that makes the old and tired feel fresh and new. ... This film is straight up magical. Read full review
80
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanJul 17, 2019
Out-pranking the prankster, [Berman] turns a documentary about an unpredictable subject into a meditation on what it means to make a documentary about an unpredictable subject. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubSean O'NealAug 13, 2019
Like The Amazing Johnathan’s act, it’s a funny, trippy, lively bit of sleight of hand that can often make you feel like you’re seeing something extraordinary, even if it’s just some prankster f**king with you. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJul 17, 2019
A strangely-compelling, unpredictable and manipulative piece of work. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerNov 19, 2019
The Amazing Johnathan Documentary starts as a blast but as the journey progresses, becomes ever more slippery: Is Szeles tricking Berman? Is Berman bamboozling us? The answer is entertaining and frustrating in equal measures. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinAug 15, 2019
A deeper dive into Szeles’ ostensibly complex psychological makeup might have given the movie more heft, though Szeles, magician that he is, clearly remains more about the illusion than the reveal. Read full review
50
The New York TimesWesley MorrisAug 15, 2019
Berman can’t quite juggle it all. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 15, 2019
Berman is guilty of one of the most tiresome cliches in documentary – solemnly playing the audio of a phone conversation, with subtitles, over an exterior shot of the building where it is taking place, giving the impression that this is smoking-gun proof of something sensational, or at any rate interesting, when it is pretty ordinary. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 17, 2019
To the extent that audiences are willing to go along with an overwrought documentary that strives to imitate what far more professionally executed podcasts have innovated in recent years ..., Berman’s stunt could turn into one of the year’s buzzier nonfiction releases. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 17, 2019
Likely to inspire heated arguments about the ethics of nonfiction film, the diverting but not really satisfying pic makes weak lemonade from lemons that might have yielded something tastier. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonAug 16, 2019
The fact that director Ben Berman is making a documentary would make this concept quite unsavory, that is, if the entire enterprise weren’t so damn dull. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJoshua Minsoo KimAug 13, 2019
Over and over, the film reminds us that banking on a gimmick isn’t an adequate substitute for an incisive character portrait. Read full review
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