Bully (2012)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 126
Fresh: 109 | Rotten: 17
Hard-hitting and gracefully filmed, Bully powerfully delivers an essential message to an audience that may not be able to see it.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 2
Hard-hitting and gracefully filmed, Bully powerfully delivers an essential message to an audience that may not be able to see it.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 38,743
My Rating
Movie Info
Directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, Bully is a beautifully cinematic, character-driven documentary. At its heart are those with huge stakes in this issue whose stories each represent a different facet of America's bullying crisis. Bully follows five kids and families over the course of a school year. Stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter who has been incarcerated after bringing a
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Cast
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Ja'Meya Jackson
Ja'Meya Jackson -
Kelby Johnson
Kelby Johnson -
Londa Johnson
Londa Johnson -
Bob Johnson
Bob Johnson -
Alex Libby
Alex Libby -
Jackie Libby
Jackie Libby -
Philip Libby
Philip Libby -
Maya Libby
Maya Libby -
Jada Libby
Jada Libby -
Ethan Libby
Ethan Libby -
Logan Libby
Logan Libby -
Kim Lockwood
Kim Lockwood -
David Long
David Long -
Tina Long
Tina Long -
Teryn Long
Teryn Long -
Troy Long
Troy Long -
Devon Matthews
Devon Matthews -
Barbara Primer
Barbara Primer -
Kirk Smalley
Kirk Smalley -
Laura Smalley
Laura Smalley -
Trey Wallace
Trey Wallace
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Bully Trailer & Photos
All Critics (128) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (110) | Rotten (17) | DVD (2)
Bully is less a checklist plan for eliminating abusive behavior than an emotionally powerful wake-up call for a society too long in denial.
Top CriticBully" is smart and compassionate about the pain of its wounded subjects and the frustration felt by their parents, seemingly abandoned by the system. What the powerful film lacks is insight into bullying.
Hirsch seldom gets face time with any bullies or their parents, and he tends to ignore the complicated social and psychological patterns that feed the problem.
For a film that understandably only scratches the surface of its topic, Bully carries a devastating emotional punch.
It would have been nice if the film had reflected its title a bit more and looked at the bullies themselves - what drives one kid to torture another? Is it a reaction to home life, is it fear, is it innate awfulness?
"Bully" presents so many devastating moments that it's hard to pick the most powerful one.
There's no arguing with Hirsch's message, but in order for his film to make the necessary impact, it must be mandatory viewing in every school -- for faculty and administration as well as for students.
The raw and devastating footage serves as a sorely needed wake-up call to tear the lid off one of society's closeted cancers.
One of the ten best films of 2012.
A difficult film with no real answers to the dilemmas it poses...
An intense look at bullying from the perspective of the victims.
Bully is not perfect, but everyone should see it.
This documentary asks more questions than it answers, but what Bully clearly demonstrates is that no one should suffer in silence.
Is it fair to criticize a documentary for being too persuasive when the subject matter is not only genuinely tragic - and tragically widespread - but also so rarely brought into the public domain? That's the question I struggle with.
Bully is all heart, no brain - which makes it an easily palatable doc to sit through.
For all its good intentions...the film does not fight hard enough to rise above the emotions of the issue to explore real solutions.
It's eye-opening to look at the "bad" schools but I was also hoping to see the "good" schools and learn about the initiatives that they've taken to address the issue.
What should have been blindingly effectual is lessened by - ironically - a lack of killer instinct.
By exposing audiences to the stark realities of bullying, Bully just might encourage people to take it seriously instead of perpetuating the old adage "it's just kids being kids".
Bully is a solid documentary but one that's built to garner a specific reaction. In doing so Lee Hirsch has missed an opportunity to go deeper into the issue, offering a faceless enemy to protest against.
There's something seriously wrong with life in our schools. And Hirsch clearly believes the world must be shown the harsh realities of it.
Hirsch's treatment does not especially engage us nor allow an emotional connection - surprising, considering the subject matter
[Hirsch] overplays the modern documentary trait to fill the final half-hour with website prompts and movement preaching, but one can hardly blame him given the closeness he obviously shared with his subjects.
Hirsch's portrait imbues his everyday heroes with a dignity and grace that their tormenters obviously are too short-sighted to see and which shines in every frame of the film.
It got fairly dusty fairly often for this critic, despite my misgivings about the picture's craftsmanship.
Bully's unobtrusive and poetic style, subtly but surgically uncovers the prison-like social hierarchical structure cultivated in US schools ... It's an affective, powerful, honest voice that demands to be heard.
Audience Reviews for Bully
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Kelby Johnson: I couldn't have gotten hit by, you know, something cool, like a jeep or something, I got hit by a minivan.
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- Alex Libby: I don't believe in luck, but I believe in hope.
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- Alex Libby: I'm beginning not to feel.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Bully
April 12, 2013:
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February 15, 2013:
Digital Multiplex: Criterion Collection Titles are Free on Hulu This WeekendEach week in Digital Multiplex, we here at RT will endeavor to bring you a sumptuous list of the...
April 6, 2012:
Recut Bully Gets a PG-13The Weinsteins meet the MPAA halfway.
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Foreign Titles
- Bully (DE)
- Bully (UK)
