Trumbo
IDP Distribution | Release Date: June 27, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Trumbo sexes up Trumbo's already dramatic story with a massive infusion of star power. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Peter Askin's powerful documentary serves as an important reminder of our First Amendment rights, and a tribute to one man who fought to preserve them in the face of Congressional intimidation. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Family home movies and photos and archival clips round out the film, which holds its hero-worshiping to fairly tolerable levels. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
That's Trumbo's message -- that the true victim was America. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
An invigorating, funny, and moving portrait of a Hollywood hero. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Trumbo is a terrific picture, a blend of interviews and archival footage and readings of Trumbo's letters and speeches. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Today few would dispute Trumbo's assessment of that very dark period: "The blacklist was a time of evil, and no one who survived it on either side came through untouched by evil." Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Trumbo, a rousing documentary as ornery, orotund and captivating as its subject (1905-1976), is an anatomy of irony. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Trumbo is welcome just to bear witness to the severe consequences meted out to one man who dared to do the right thing. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Trumbo never wavered in his belief that his persecution was only a horrible symptom. He understood the real victim of blacklist America was America itself. Read full review
70
VarietyRobert Koehler
It will serve as a fine entry point for younger auds interested in learning about the price paid by moviemakers and their families swept up in the 1950s anti-Communist net. Read full review
70
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
The actors--most unshaven, wrinkled, so goddamned serious--steal the writer's movie, as they wring from his epistles every last drop of blood and sweat spilled by a man punished for believing his country was better than its behavior. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
An unconventional film about an unconventional man. Part documentary, part expertly staged readings, it focuses on the unquiet life and unforgettable words of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, someone who, as his son puts it, never had to go looking for trouble because it always came to him. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
This documentary's narrative feels deliberately chronological, as the storyline adheres to the major steps of Trumbo's career. Nonetheless, the film realizes many great moments to make the writer's story – often reduced to a footnote – into an intriguing one. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
What becomes clear is that Trumbo's humor is only one thing that helped him survive the professional and personal hardships of the blacklist, which drove more than one of his Hollywood friends to kill themselves and took a toll on Trumbo's children. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Donald Sutherland's passionate rendition of a speech from Trumbo's 1971 film "Johnny Got His Gun" (based on his novel) is worth the price of admission. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Trumbo doesn't pretend to be tough-minded about its subject, and its failure to date the letters is an annoyance. But the substance of those letters, along with documentary footage and a touching appearance by Kirk Douglas, throws a baleful light on a bleak chapter of American history. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
The misleading documentary Trumbo paints a golden nimbus of holiness around the onetime highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood, Dalton Trumbo, an on-the-record hater of democracy, defender of authoritarian rule and avowed Communist. Read full review
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