Genres

Visitors Review

Peter Keough 2012-05-26 06:34:07

It's all very amusing, but maybe the film's keenest insight into tabloid journalism is Morris's own exploitation of the pitiful, perhaps delusional McKinney.

Colin Covert 2012-05-25 18:17:36

McKinney, a born performer, is in her glory as she spins her version of the affair.

Jeff Meyers 2012-05-23 07:29:50

The celebrated filmmaker has created a meta-tabloid of sorts, surrendering to the idea that the truth is absurdly unknowable.

Tim Brayton 2012-05-23 00:34:20

The film around [Joyce] McKinney isn't quite sure of what it's about, at times... but McKinney herself is the sort of arresting figure that you don't shake easily.

Scott Tobias 2012-05-21 03:03:50

McKinney may well be a madwoman, but Morris connects so deeply to her obsessions that the film's tone never seems exploitative or mocking.

Sarah Boslaugh 2012-05-20 15:11:19

It's an amusing 90 minutes even if the subject doesn't really merit this level of attention, and if you enjoy laughing at people who can't seem to help themselves you'll have a great time.

Christy Lemire 2012-05-18 23:11:14

Morris' spirited pacing and the jaunty score from John Kusiak help maintain a tone that's part mocking, part suspenseful.

Leslie Stonebraker 2012-05-18 17:36:47

Tabloid becomes an elaborate game of he-said-she-said that winks at the viewer with enough self-consciousness to share the joke.

Stephanie Zacharek 2012-05-17 20:40:59

Compared with Morris' best and most provocative documentaries, like The Fog of War, Tabloid is just a trifle. It's a silly little thing that goes down easy and is forgotten almost instantly.

Joe Williams 2012-05-17 07:29:41

"Tabloid" is tantalizing, but like yesterday's headlines, it's a fleeting flirtation.

bob_bear 2012-05-12 09:11:39

1hr 35mins in the company of a looney

By the last quarter of this turgid, unremitting virtual-monologue, Iwas in fear of losing my own marbles -- Joyce having clearly lost herslong ago. Pointing a camera at someone and letting them damn themselveswith their own deluded waffle is not my idea of effective film making.Completely lacking in visual impact, this "film" might as well havebeen done on radio.The supporting cast of tabloid creeps interviewed herein are enough tomake one's skin crawl. Exploiting a crazy lady is neither funny norclever so quite why the guy from The Daily Mirror appeared to be soproud of his machinations is beyond me.I'd hoped for some deeper insight. I didn't get any. Only denial andmadness. On this showing the woman needed to be sectioned. Too late nowthough. Far too late.

James Kendrick 2012-05-11 23:56:05

a magnificently unsettling and funny-sad portrait of the arguably sick relationships that are forged between celebrities, the media, and their audiences

John Hartl 2012-05-09 12:41:35

The movie is guilty of condescending toward its subjects, though most of them appear to be having a fabulous time telling tales.

Shawn Levy 2012-05-08 23:44:34

It's a titillating yarn told with verve, but it doesn't shed much light on how tabloids create and encourage such stories, nor does it, finally, tell us much about human nature -- other than, perhaps, to illustrate an extreme case of it.

Philip French 2012-05-05 11:59:16

It's a bizarre "where are they now?" story of a rather unedifying kind, and one feels ashamed of laughing at this sad exhibitionist.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat 2012-05-05 07:39:55

A wild and weird Errol Morris documentary about the stories we tell ourselves to cope with life's disappointments.

anthonydavis26 2012-04-30 12:16:40

Holding the mirror up, but to what?

This film was reviewed for Cambridge Filk Festival (UK) - 15 to 25September 2011 I was not really of an age to have known about Joy(ce)McKinney at the time that she rose to prominence, but, as the formerMormon who was used in the documentary to explain various thingsremarked, what she said was one thing, what the Mormons said wasanother, and maybe what actually happened fell in the middle somewhere.Be that as it may, it is a curiosity of this subject that The DailyMirror says that (as a result of what happened to Mirror GroupNewspapers) it no longer has much of the evidence showing that sheperformed sexual services (although not intercourse) for money beforemeeting her ideal man, and that Joy herself says that a large amount oforiginal material that proved the contrary was stolen from a vehicle ofhers. She states that the material that the Mirror used at the time wasfaked, whereas its photographer says that he saw the negatives andprints, and the magazines in which the images appeared.Altogether intriguing, though nothing was as significant, for me, asthe account of the cloning in South Korea of five puppies, all withsub-names from their beloved 'parent' Booger, and courtesy of sometissue from his stomach. The practitioner who had performed theprocedure said that he wasn't playing God, because he wasn't creatinglife – well, you could have fooled me, if that's not what those fiveBooger replicas were…!

Eric D. Snider 2012-04-30 00:23:11

Tabloid is nothing more than a lark, the equivalent of glancing at the goofy headlines in the checkout line and then forgetting all about them.

Kyle Smith 2012-04-27 01:14:18

"Tabloid" shows that an oddball lead character and a smirky style do not necessarily add up to a complete movie.

Geoff Berkshire 2012-04-26 06:25:02

Tabloid stories may be a dime a dozen, but documentaries as amusing and entertaining as Tabloid aren't so easy to find.