The September Issue
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: August 28, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Lusciously revealing fly-on-the-wall portrait of Anna Wintour. Read full review
90
Film ThreatWhitney Borup
A wonderful film, and one with vast appeal. Giving us everything we have come to expect from our fashion-centered programming and more, we are left with the sense that we have uncovered a mystery. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Filled with vivacity, charm and, yes, beauty. Read full review
80
EmpireDamon Wise
A splendid study of the forces and passions behind the world’s biggest fashion magazine. Read full review
75
NPRJeannette Catsoulis
Though most will visit R.J. Cutler's subtle, supple documentary hoping to peek beneath the formidable bangs of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, they will be disappointed: This is a movie whose ambitions range wider than the contents of her guarded psyche. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Beaded with amusing moments. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What comes across is that she is, after all, a very good editor. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
As for getting close to Wintour -- or even explaining the unfathomable mystery that can be haute couture -- the film comes up empty. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Compulsively entertaining documentary. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A subversively entertaining documentary. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
While it doesn't scratch much below the surface, The September Issue is an entertainingly voyeuristic glimpse into the fashion world. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
What the movie unfolds is how the magazine is inextricable from Wintour’s vision of it. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
A crisp and entertaining documentary. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
For all its ballyhoo'd full access to Vogue's inner workings, the movie's cinéma-vérité approach feels perilously close to advertorial. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin Lowe
Consistent with her ice queen reputation, Wintour is often disconcertingly direct and frequently unfeeling, though not without a dry sense of humor. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin Chang
A dishy and engrossing peek inside the fashion world’s corridors of power -- every bit as slickly packaged as the publication it seeks to uncover. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
Wintour's arctic imperiousness has a way of creating the most masochistic deference, a dynamic that R.J Cutler superficially explores--and becomes prone to--in his documentary The September Issue. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Behind the gloss of Vogue, a revealing look at work, creativity and two strong women Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
This entertaining, glib movie is about the maintenance of a brand that Ms. Wintour has brilliantly cultivated since she assumed her place at the top of the editorial masthead in 1988 and which the documentary’s director, R. J. Cutler, has helped polish with a take so flattering he might as well work there. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
When it's all over, we still don't know who Wintour really is. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri Linden
A slight, if often riveting, behind-the-scenes documentary. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A fascinating, frustrating documentary. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Like a time capsule from another era of journalism, The September Issue chronicles a distant past that flourished not but two years ago. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
What's most conspicuously missing from this ensemble is some input from the advertisers who subsidize Wintour's tyranny, and the readers who are seduced into buying her beautiful four-pound paperweights. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
The doc’s breakout star is Vogue creative director Grace Coddington, a former model whose plain appearance (the end result of a horrible car accident) and frumpy clothing belie her genius for fashion. She counters her boss every chance she can get and provides the film with a much-needed emotional center. Read full review
50
Washington PostRuth McCann
It's delicious and ensnaring and easy on the eyes, but it can't give you the definitive truth about notoriously frosty Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
The press notes boast that Mr. Cutler was given "unprecedented access" and the right of final cut; these advantages don't seem to have done much for this listless film. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The September Issue fixates on status and professional one-upmanship; if you want to see a movie that actually treats fashion as personal expression--in other words, art--keep a lookout for Anne Fontaine’s forthcoming biopic "Coco Before Chanel." Read full review
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