Waiting for Superman 2010

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Is our children learning? No -- and here's why, argues Davis Guggenheim's rousing documentary Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: ... emotionally engaging, as hopeful and honest as it is wrenching and moving. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: A powerful and alarming documentary about America's failing public school system. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: The plentiful pop-doc touches ensure that this wake-up call won't put you to sleep, even if the ratio of spoonfuls of sugar to medicine occasionally seems skewed. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: This is one of the most galvanizing documentaries I've ever seen. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This is a time when urgent issues are often explored in polemic documentaries, as well as a fateful moment when the future of public education is being debated with unprecedented intensity. Waiting for 'Superman' makes an invaluable addition to the debate Read more

Linda Shaw, Seattle Times: Guggenheim succeeds in asking tough questions. At the end of the film, after he's made us root for these kids and worry about the state of our schools, he asks: "Did we do the right thing? Did we do enough?" Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Superman can sometimes feel more like a lecture and an info-dump than a gripping narrative, but to his credit, Guggenheim never lets us forget the high, human stakes involved in saving public schools from themselves. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's meant to infuriate you and break your heart enough that you feel compelled to do something. There's a great deal of agit with very little prop. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: An admirable exercise in straight talk, especially in its tough assessment of the mediocrity-enforcing teachers' unions. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Your heart goes out to all these kids, but Guggenheim's take on education stacks the deck against them even further by implying that only charters offer a ray of hope. Would that it were that simple. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Waiting for 'Superman' won't satisfy anyone looking for a five-point plan. (It won't win many fans among teachers' unions, either.) On the other hand, if it's effective filmmaking you're after, look no further. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Davis easily ties a sick education system to a sick society. But when it comes down to it, in the end he has no clear cure for what ails us. At the very least, though, he has exposed the disease for all to see. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The movie goes right to the heart in focusing on the fates of some irresistibly real kids and the loving, frustrated parents and grandparents who care for them. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: By focusing on these five kids and their hopeful families, Waiting for Superman puts a human face on a crisis worthy of a superhero. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: We need another movie, one that shows us why some charter schools work and others dont. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Reform is not that hard, Guggenheim concludes. We know what makes for a good school: quality teachers. All we need is to bring in strong teachers to replace the weakest. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: As Guggenheim's camera gives us a close-up of the Educational Lotto, the implication is clear: Why gamble on the future of America's children? Instead of helping some kids beat the odds, how do we change the odds for all kids? Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The film demonstrates (1) that quality education is possible for even the most disadvantaged students; (2) the cost is low, considering that high school dropouts often turn to crime when they can't find good jobs. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This movie isn't just a necessity (listen up, do-nothing politicians) - it might change your future. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Guggenheim does not seem aware that extensive educational research has failed to identify what makes a "great teacher" or how to train one, nor that there are strikingly different and conflicting strategies for teaching literacy. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: The photography and editing are accomplished, and the filmmaker frequently resorts to animation and other tricks to make his subject more palatable. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: You leave the film convinced that radical change is necessary but uncomfortable with the closing voice-over that assures you how simple it will be to implement it. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The fact that most charters fare no better than regular public schools, or do worse, is only glancingly mentioned. Read more

Guy Dixon, Globe and Mail: The heartbreak among children denied a proper education is irrefutable. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: There is no question that this is compelling viewing, especially considering the largely abstract and policy-driven nature of the crisis. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: This is more than an Important Documentary: it is engaging and, finally, enraging -- as captivating as any Superman movie, and as poignant as a child's plea for help. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: As divisive as the issue has become, it's hard to deny the power of Guggenheim's lingering shots on these children, waiting on a superhero who isn't going to come. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Exhilarating, heartbreaking and righteous, Waiting for Superman is also a kind of high-minded thriller: Can the American education system be cured? Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Guggenheim's insistence on not engaging with the injustices that children of certain races and classes face outside of school makes his reiteration of the obvious... seem all the more willfully naive. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Waiting for 'Superman,' filmmaker Davis Guggenheim's scathing, moving critique of American public education, makes you actually want to do something after you dry your eyes. Read more