Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? 2008

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune: Morgan Spurlock is a living, breathing cautionary tale. Take a good, long look, kids: This is what happens when society validates really annoying people. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The film is a hodgepodge, and it closes with a whimper. But along the way some lucid voices slip through. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: It's a little insulting to all the real reporters who've died in the field looking for hard information, not weak indie comedy. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Uh, Pakistan. Roll credits. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Where In The World is a conversation-starter for ADD-stricken adolescents who can't bear to think about one thing for too long, or too deeply. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Spurlock and his team of collaborators never find the movie amid all their material. If he's a questionable journalist and a poor detective, he's an even more woeful filmmaker. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The aim of Spurlock's mission is less a matter of actually finding the man than exploring the everyday beliefs and attitudes of Muslims around the globe. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: Complicated global problems require something a bit more challenging than this. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Morgan Spurlock is a jokester politico in the Michael Moore vein, and his latest documentary is a low concept posing as a high concept. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: At its most illuminating, Morgan Spurlock's compelling if self-indulgent travelogue investigation Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? reminds us that a livelihood isn't just 'America's No. 1 issue' as CNN reminds us. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Although Osama wraps up a bit too quickly, and ends a bit too obviously, the thing Spurlock finds is, for the most part, these people resemble us. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: In his first film since Super Size Me, Spurlock tells you virtually nothing you didn't already know -- and, what's more, he does it with catchy videogame graphics and faux-naive man-on-the-street interviews that make Michael Moore look like Chet Huntley. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: The Osama his film captures is similar to the one foisted upon us by the media: a 2-D villain straight from a kill 'em all video game. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It won't spoil anything to reveal that Spurlock doesn't find his man, but his failure to do so -- even though it's played for laughs -- is a cowardly cop-out that unintentionally mocks the very real dangers of life in the Middle East. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: While some of the interviews are interesting, and the scenery beautiful, eventually the juvenile jokes overwhelm any real point that Spurlock is trying to make. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Armed with little more than a great title and limitless confidence, documentarian Morgan Spurlock sets off in search of the world's biggest bad guy. He comes up empty in more ways than one. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? jokes about Spurlock capturing the bounty on Osama's head, or making the world safe for his child-to-be, but it's really about the narcissistic filmmaker and his enablers the Weinsteins making a few bucks. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The director of Super Size Me shows something else -- guts -- in his sober-minded but comical, skeptical but never cynical documentary, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Genial Spurlock is the Ryan Seacrest of reality filmmaking, vamping for the camera while ducking the crossfire. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: A superficial primer for people who aren't likely to go see it in the first place. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: [Spurlock's] work here leans closer to Tyra Banks wearing her fat suit than anything directed by Errol Morris or even Michael Moore. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Insofar as Spurlock draws any political conclusions at all, they don't go much further than the title of the Elvis Costello song that plays under the final credits, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding? Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Documentary humorist Morgan Spurlock explores the lighter side of international terrorism in Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Jason McBride, Globe and Mail: Where in the world is Morgan Spurlock's head? Occasionally, during this exasperating and goofy documentary, it seems squarely on his shoulders. Most of the time, however, it's firmly lodged up another part of his anatomy. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The film does offer a glimmer of hope that behind all the bellowing by politicians and thugs, there are millions of people in the Middle East who simply yearn for peace. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Given the fraught nature of U.S.-Middle East relations and the war on terrorism, Spurlock is understandably in over his head. Still, he is a genial host whose message urges cultural understanding. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: With about as much documentary credibility as Borat, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? combines low comedy, high production values and the Middle East for what will surely be a hit, even as it delivers nothing new. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: A cynic might view Spurlock's seven-month exploration of civilization's cradle as a form of conjugal competition. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? is so infantile you expect the answer to be, 'Not at my house!' Read more