Best Worst Movie 2009

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It seems that the hunger for celebrity is so fierce that people will exploit anything -- even their most embarrassing moments -- to attain some measure of it. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: In 26 years as a film reviewer, I've never seen a film that so perfectly encapsulates the obsession Pauline Kael famously classified as Movie Love. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Though it's a ramshackle piece of filmmaking, Best Worst Movie is an honest one, too, staying open to awkward, humbling moments while still making a solid case for the film's immortal badness. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A documentary so enthusiastic, good-natured and sweet about such an abject disaster that it almost makes Troll 2 worthwhile. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Troll 2 has become a midnight favorite, and Stephenson looks at the phenomenon while catching up with his profoundly untalented costars and the grouchy Italian director. Read more

Cary Darling, Dallas Morning News: Some movies are just bad. Some are so bad they're good. And others are so intensely bad that they rise to a level of perverse greatness. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: For a while, the dentist and the documentarian revel in the celebrity-ness of it all %u2014 a glow that fades as they delve a little deeper. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This curiously touching doc has a bittersweet ending. Read more

Sam Adams, Salon.com: You might assume "Troll 2" aficionados are sarcasm-drenched hipsters, but "Best Worst Movie" argues that their appreciation is far less convoluted. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The priorities seem misplaced, but the result is still sincere and interesting and often very funny. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: [A] surprisingly rich documentary. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Stephenson is too close to it all; he's never able to truly dig below the cult flick's frenzy, to examine the very real pain of both the film's makers and the audience that takes rabid, gleeful delight in their folly. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Stephenson's self-exemption from his film's scrutiny feels craven, especially when he visits screen-mother Margo Prey to ogle her infirm mother and kitten-themed decor. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Read more