87
Metascore
35 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The PlaylistThe PlaylistJames tells this unapologetic story with little sympathy, as per Ebert’s wishes, and a lot of passion—he wants the audience to really know who Roger Ebert was, and understand the importance of his work.
- 100VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasJames cuts — as in all of his best work — straight to the human heart of the matter, celebrating both the writer and the man, the one inseparable from the other, largely in Ebert’s own words.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJames has done a wonderful job of telling a colorful life story.
- 88Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsThis is a big-hearted, absorbing documentary about a writer who kept on writing until very near the end. Anyone who cared about Roger Ebert will find it necessary viewing.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramChicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramFar more than just a tribute to the career of the world’s most famous and influential film critic, the often revelatory Life Itself is also a remarkably intimate portrait of a life well lived — right up to the very last moment.
- 80The TelegraphAmber WilkinsonThe TelegraphAmber WilkinsonThis is an impressively clear-eyed and deeply moving portrait.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfUnusually moving (not only to stray film critics in your crowd), director Steve James's keen profile of the late, great Roger Ebert works both as a compact appreciation of the reviewer's vast public impact, as well as an unflinching peak into a cancer patient's final months, fraught with pain, hope and constant treatment.
- 77Film.comFilm.comIt isn’t surprising how warm and enjoyable Life Itself is – James is a singularly talented documentarian who literally owes his career to Ebert, and Ebert approached the facts of being filmed the same way he faced films, or for that matter faced anything: With honesty and good humor.
- 63Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThere's a sense throughout of Steve James rushing and dutifully covering all his bases to evade accusations of creating a puff piece.