Who Killed the Electric Car? 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The film's clear and informative exploration of the collusion between the private sector and government agencies, along with the auto giants' wielding of their financial power to sway legislature, can't help but raise the viewer's ire. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A wondrous tale with an infuriating ending (at least so far). Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Chris Paine's documentary about General Motors' development and withdrawal of the innovative, environment-friendly EV1 automobile is bound to reverberate with anyone who's fallen in love with a product only to see it irrevocably yanked from the market. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Fascinating. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Like An Inconvenient Truth and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, the movie is ultimately a nonpartisan warning. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Thumbs up ... Read more

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Writer-director Chris Paine offers many things: a stinging critique of the car industry's short-sightedness and lust for profits, a plea for greater public awareness of alternative energies, and an elegy for a sweet little electro-car called the EV1. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: An entertaining if slightly skewed documentary about the short life and early death of General Motors' EV1. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Fierce, deftly entertaining work of muckraking journalism. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It posits a necessary question in these days of ever-burgeoning oil prices and ever-shrinking supply, and it offers distressing insights into the corporate American mindset. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A spirited celebration of the deceased can honor the lost opportunity even as it challenges the living, breathing, concerned survivors to demand more from corporations, government, ourselves. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Depressing and hugely important. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Who Killed the Electric Car? makes you angry, and also sad, to live in a country where innovation could be contrived into an enemy. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Runs efficiently on its own energy and sincerity, which makes it not unlike the car it mourns. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: Cynical bike riders may well snicker at scenes of car-lovers behaving like tree-huggers, but Paine effectively builds the viewer's affection for EV1, so the removal of the cars works as the film's climactic moment. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: It's a lively, informative whodunit about an energy-efficient vehicle that debuted with fanfare and died with a whimper. Read more

Judith Lewis, L.A. Weekly: A laudably complicated, if emotional and a little comic-book goofy, story. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: In many ways, the movie is superior to An Inconvenient Truth, with more journalistic balance than the Al Gore global warming film. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Certainly makes the case that if the electric cars were available today in mass quantities at competitive prices, they would sell like Girls Gone Wild videos. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: ... an entertaining but sometimes disingenuous documentary ... Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: It's liable to get people hopping mad, whether or not they buy Paine's overarching conspiracy theory. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A balanced examination of the reasons for the electric car's disappearance. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Filmmaker Chris Paine's postmortem on the EV1s doesn't answer all our questions, but it is reasonably evenhanded and quite entertaining. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: Energetic documentary that efficiently ridicules GM for scrapping its electrical vehicle line. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Paine's disarmingly impassioned movie sees nothing but short-term sinister interests behind the forced disappearance of a viably long-term solution. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Chris Paine's documentary makes an unapologetic case for the car and an unofficial indictment of the forces allied against it. Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: Paine is preaching to the choir, but the sermon should be heard nonetheless. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: No amount of last-reel optimism will cool the anger of progressive-minded auds. Read more

Rob Nelson, Village Voice: Another few of these squandered opportunities for art-house muckraking and we'll need someone to ask who killed the left-wing documentary. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: A lot of the film is illuminating; a lot of it is pointless. Read more