I Am 2011

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: What "I Am" is wanting is a sense that it actually wrestles with anything, that it can stand up to a contrary point of view that the film's 76 minutes are so utterly lacking. Read more

Rachel Saltz, New York Times: It's not just that Mr. Shadyac makes big leaps and sometimes papers over contradictions. It's also that after a while everyone starts to sound the same: a little beatific, a little high on wonder, a little platitudinous. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Here's a rare feel-good documentary that earns its somewhat cockeyed optimism. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: What's wrong with the world? How do we go about fixing it? Is the fundamental nature of man essentially benevolent or cruel? These are all questions for either society's most profound philosophers, or the man who directed Ace Ventura. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: A film about this problem should have some larger point to make, some narrative to construct, something personal to tell us. This film has only whiffs of each. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Fodder for stoners, college sophomores and the sentimental, but you have to respect Shadyac for trying - and if his reward isn't found at the box office, I don't think he'll mind. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: I Am is looking for a little bit of hope in this world. Happily, it finds some. A great deal actually. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: An earnest, lumpy macrame of a personal nonfiction project... Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: An optimistic exploration of what's right and wrong with the world. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: What lifts the film above its dubious boilerplate assemblage of talking heads and archival images is Shadyac himself. Read more

Brian Miller, L.A. Weekly: Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky are among the boldface-name philosophers he interviews, but their voices are soon drowned out by a torrent of pseudoscience from experts at places like the Institute of HeartMath and the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Shadyac seems pleasant and sincere - he looks a little like "Weird Al" Yankovic might if he became a storefront preacher - but as you watch his film, "I Am," you may well become a doubter. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: We're left wondering how Desmond Tutu wound up in this vanity project in the first place. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: In a heartfelt cinematic essay, Hollywood director Tom Shadyac declares "I Am" the source of humanity's problems. Considering he made "Patch Adams," I agree. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Happily, the frisky Shadyac does not sermonize. He is a puckish Sherpa to the frontiers of science and faith. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I'm not an ideal viewer for a documentary like "I Am," which involves the ingestion of Woo Woo in industrial bulk. When I see a man whose mind is being read by yogurt, I expect to find that man in a comedy starring, oh, someone like Jim Carrey. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Shadyac should be applauded for his quest. Whether the result amounts to anything is less clear. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A documentary spin through philosophy, philanthropy and quantum physics. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: An open heart can be a recipe for ridicule, particularly in a culture where consumption is mistaken for a moral imperative. Read more

Ronnie Scheib, Variety: Whatever leaps of logic yawn in the film's poorly cobbled-together arguments are papered over by its wash of button-pushing images, from regimented soldiers and deadly explosions to flocks of wild geese and sunbeams breaking through the clouds. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: There are great filmmakers - Chris Marker and Nanni Moretti come to mind - whose cinematic essays render their first-person musings utterly compelling. Shadyac is not in their league. Read more