The Case Against 8
HBO Documentary Films | Release Date: June 6, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlJun 3, 2014
The stirring new documentary The Case Against 8, showcasing the lawyers and plaintiffs who challenged California's 2008 gay marriage ban, is the best kind of popular history, a film that trembles with tears and hope, and I dare you to get through it without bawling some yourself. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 5, 2014
Emotional and analytical by turn, The Case Against 8 is a thoroughly engaging documentary. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 12, 2014
A sprawling yet engrossing documentary. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 6, 2014
The Case Against 8 beautifully reminds us of the human beings who opened up their lives to the world and became representatives for one of the most important movements for equal rights this country has ever seen. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyJan 9, 2015
The music busts a gut straining for weepie affect, but you might shed a few yourself when the five-year battle reaches its jubilant, justified climax. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 5, 2014
Exhaustively tracking the five-year battle to overthrow California’s ban on same-sex marriage, they distill the dense legal process into a lucid narrative while illuminating the human drama of the plaintiffs, and by extension, the countless gay men and lesbians they represent. Read full review
80
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiJun 5, 2014
With its action taking place primarily in the beige-walled, wood-accented environs of legal offices and courthouses, The Case Against 8 compensates for its visual blandness with good old-fashioned storytelling. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 3, 2014
The documentary is strongest during these conference-room brainstorms, similar to those of a political campaign. (It could have used more of Boies’s witness-demolishing courtroom eloquence.) The draw here is watching a careful process unfold, regardless of the outcome. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergJun 5, 2014
The Case Against 8 functions as a valuable record of the nuts-and-bolts conference room side of advocacy — an aspect of civil rights work not often seen on screen. Read full review
60
EmpirePatrick PetersNov 3, 2014
As passionate and wide-ranging as you'd hope, but disappointingly mistrusting of its audience's interest in the finer points of the case. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis HarveyJun 5, 2014
There are engaging, articulate personalities here that maintain interest through a mountain of strategizing sessions and court reversals, though helmers Ben Cotner and Ryan White strike a rote note of tele-friendly inspirational uplift while risking tedium with too much repetitious content. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthJun 23, 2014
The film is an almost overly thorough look at every single step along the way in the battle to bring Prop 8 down. And while that's admirable, and gay rights is certainly a fight that needs to be documented, the minutely detailed The Case Against 8 has the curious effect of dampening the drama through its approach. Read full review
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