76
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreAlex Winter’s Zappa is perhaps the most thorough Zappa screen biography to come along, and that’s acknowledging how hopeless the job of making The Compleat Zappa bio-doc is.
- 88Chicago TribuneKatie WalshChicago TribuneKatie WalshIn Zappa, this legendary artist’s uncompromising nature is bracing, bold and utterly refreshing.
- 88RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiRogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiI found the film to be an engrossing look at Zappa and his legacy that nevertheless avoids the mere hagiography that films of this sort run the risk of embracing when not handled properly.
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanIt’s a multimedia immersion, filled with rare footage of Zappa from his teenage years on and assembled with the loving dexterity we’ve come to expect from Alex Winter as a filmmaker.
- 75Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSlant MagazineChris BarsantiThe documentary is determined not to be a typical rock-god story with predictable rise-and-fall arcs.
- 75Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayZappa gives its subject his well-earned due within the rock firmament. But even more valuable, Winter gives Zappa pride of place among the most important composers of the 20th century, sharing some extraordinary performances of his little-known classical work.
- 75Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrZappa also gently touches on Frank’s contempt for the general run of humanity, not just Tipper Gore and other members of the Parents Music Resource Center. He spoke witheringly of his appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” where the cast made fun of his lifelong no-drugs stance.
- 70Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonWall Street JournalJohn AndersonIt’s a rare documentary portrait that doesn’t oversell its subject.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichAlas, the trouble with trying to capture a mercurial artist on such a legible canvas is that the attempt — no matter how sincere and self-aware it might be — can only do justice to its subject through its failure to see them clearly.
- Despite footage onstage with John Lennon and jamming “Happy Together” alongside Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, plus naturally him taking on censorship during farcical Congressional hearings in the Eighties, Zappa never adequately spotlights its raison d’être’s wit – hello, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Sheik Yerbouti, and Does Humor Belong in Music?