The Queen of Versailles Reviews

A tragicomic indulgence of schadenfreude with the sophistication of a Kardashian reality show.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

If the film intends to show that any of the Siegels have gained any wisdom from hardship, we don't see it.

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It contains some useful information, I suppose, but I did not like these people, I hope never to meet them, and I wonder if the world wouldn't be a better place without them.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

The Queen of Versailles will prompt loathing not only among the so-called 99 Percent, but among those in the top 1 percent who would like someone more sane to represent them on camera.

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I feel contempt for my contempt for these people. Whether that's my problem or the film's, I'm not entirely sure, but I'm leaning toward blaming Greenfield.

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If you get some kind of sick kick watching the mighty take a fall, The Queen of Versailles will be nothing short of a schadenfreudic ball.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

A well-told tale about having to atone for sins of the sub-prime era.

Full Review | Original Score: B+

This honesty and heart is what makes The Queen of Versailles so compelling.

Full Review | Original Score: A

The result is a rich portrait.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.2/10

Greenfield's film is bathed in Florida sunshine, adding to the sensation that we're watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with a Marxist punchline.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Prepare to be shocked, disgusted and compelled.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Strangely entertaining and revealing documentary about a culture obsessed with money and people aspiring to a life they can't afford. Greed is good once again if you can borrow enough money to consume all you desire. Mind the debt gap.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Lauren Greenfield's film evolves from an ode to entitled obliviousness to a more evenhanded character study, tracing the fault lines that develop within the Siegel family.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Illuminating, oddly hilarious, ceaselessly watchable.

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In the end, these are human beings, not emblems - and it is this that makes this documentary one of the most watchable, for rich and poor alike.

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With every shopping spree, every limo ride to McDonald's, Mrs. Siegel underlines the cliche that money cannot buy you taste. Or class.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Watching Jackie fill cart after Walmart cart with crap the family doesn't need is to witness the new millennium's version of Marie Antoinette.

Full Review | Original Score: B-

One of the great unsayable truths about the American dream is that it is a bit of a Ponzi scheme ... our system admits a glimmer of hope that anyone, no matter how lowborn, can rise to the top.

Full Review | Original Score: 87/100

An outrageous, despicable, guiltily hilarious and appropriately superficial good time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

At times the film feels aimless and inconclusive, but Greenfield's open-minded and observational approach yields compelling details from every scene.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5