Collapse 2009

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Not just sobering; it's a full-on assault. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: While [its] totally impartial approach is admirable, it also robs Collapse of any invested sensibility. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: There are many layers to the man and the movie, and it's hard not to leave the theater shaken. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's not a pretty picture, but it is not a naive one either. The grippingly articulate Ruppert is like Noam Chomsky as a wry pundit of doom. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Collapse" is a grueling peek at a doomsday prophet's rigorous mind but in a sly way also a compassionate look at the strain Ruppert endures from knowing he has only ever been right. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: It would have been helpful had Smith put his words into some sort of context, allowing others to assess his theories. Instead there's simply Ruppert, talking, raging and warning, as if his very life depended on it. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Collapse is boring. But what do you expect from a one-sided movie about a kook, who, at the time the film was shot, faced eviction from his home because he hadn't paid the rent? Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: There is controversy over Ruppert, and he has many critics. But one simple fact at the center of his argument is obviously true, and it terrifies me. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Collapse will leave you shaken about the future of the planet, and saddened about the shattered life of the messenger. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: It's only when he starts to weep for the future of a population that won't heed his warnings that Ruppert shows his humanity. It's made him abandon his cause and quit writing. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice: By faithfully documenting Ruppert's long-simmering analysis, Smith lets us experience the feeling of a world gone to pot, whether or not the claims are factually accurate. Read more

Dan Kois, Washington Post: Ruppert unexpectedly breaks down, weeping openly for the lost future of humanity, and at that moment I was startled at how bad I felt for him -- and how nervous I was, suddenly, that this contemporary Cassandra might just be right. Read more