This is a funny and immensely thought-provoking documentary that is a testament to just how far a pair of enthusiastic young filmmakers can go with pluck and gall.
Comment
10/17/07
Anthem (1997)
80
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:15
Fresh:12
Rotten:3
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: ANTHEM follows two female filmmakers as they document their curious and comedic expedition across America's highways and byways. From gas stations to diners, they offer an intriguing glimpse of the... [More]
Starring: Chuck D, Willie Nelson, Robert Redford, Tom Robbins
Director: Shainee Gabel, Kristin Hahn
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Reviews for Anthem
1 - 15 (sorted by critic A-Z)
An uplifting ode to all that's still great, or at least moderately salvageable, about the USA, this talking-head road trip -- taken by two neophyte pic-makers with a really solid Rolodex -- is a handy antidote to prevailing Generation Why cynicism.
09/19/07
Top CriticThe great (and pleasant) surprise of Anthem is how satisfying a documentary it is and how the observations about America’s direction in the new century are clairvoyant rather than stale.
09/22/07
It could use about a half hour cut from it, but still highly entertaining.
09/19/07
a naive, surprisingly sloppy documentary.
09/22/07
Top CriticThis is a documentary that could easily have been overly self-indulgent or fashionably irreverent but instead appeals to one’s intelligence and provides glimpses of a dynamic country cruising peacefully toward the millennium.
09/24/07
Top CriticThe film has the invitingly earnest feel of a Charles Kuralt feature, bringing you into the living rooms, kitchens and cars of some very unlikely heroes.
09/22/07
Top CriticMany themes emerge -- equality, justice, freedom, environmental crisis -- but weaving them into cogent insights is beyond the adventurers.
09/22/07
Over-long, full of itself, ultimately pointless.
09/22/07
Gabel and Hahn, whose thoughtful and frequently amusing commentary carries us through thousands of miles of interstate and more motels than Frank Zappa ever imagined, are guided by John Steinbeck's wisdom that you don't take a trip, but the trip takes you
10/17/07
Top CriticThe delightful, sometimes humorous yet thoughtful result of [Gabel's and Hahn's] efforts is Anthem, in which they talk to nearly 30 people, some famous, some obscure, to find out what’s on their minds.
09/24/07
Top CriticFar too often these days, documentary filmmakers try to push their own political agendas on audiences by ridiculing those who have different views from their own. Happily, that's not the case with Anthem.
09/22/07
Anthem stands as a unique testament to the vigor and scope of the American way of life; this is the rare kind of film that should be placed in a time capsule for future generations so they might have a better appreciation of our moment in history.
09/19/07
It's enjoyable precisely because Hahn and Gabel give us both sides of the experience: the interviewer and interviewee. Though there’s an undercurrent of melancholy, Anthem is a bright ride, a welcome shot of 60’s optimism in a gray post-modern age.
09/24/07
Top CriticWhile Anthem may not offer any genuine insight into the future of America, Gabel and Hahn at least prove that the can-do spirit has not been completely lost to cynicism and the cult of celebrity.
10/17/07
1 - 15 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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