The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Boy Erased
Ant-Man and the Wasp
American Vandal
Log in with Facebook
OR
By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango.
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
Critics Consensus: As riveting as it is sad, Amy is a powerfully honest look at the twisted relationship between art and celebrity -- and the lethal spiral of addiction.
Critic Consensus: As riveting as it is sad, Amy is a powerfully honest look at the twisted relationship between art and celebrity -- and the lethal spiral of addiction.
View All Amy News
All Critics (207) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (196) | Rotten (11)
There are a couple of scenes in Asif Kapadia's new Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, that make the fame-industrial complex seem rock-bottom awful.
A powerful, and powerfully sad, experience.
A mesmerizing yet devastating look at a singular talent.
It's Amy's words, her music, her voicemails, her home videos, her friends, her family, her tormentors, and her timeless incandescence. Look, listen and weep.
Plenty of folks praise Winehouse in "Amy." But no one was there to save her. Perhaps it wasn't possible. But perhaps it was.
The film is often uncomfortable to watch, prompting that little voice inside each of us to scream out "Somebody help her!"
However, for as heavy-handed as this film comes across, we are left remembering a brilliant artist.
Asif Kapadia mines the subject matter and narrative arc competently enough - although, it's almost a director-proof proposition with the amount of revealing archive material.
Fantastic use of archive footage and voiceover interview to weave a tragic tale of fame, drugs and music.
The camera that lovingly captured the young singer became an instrument of torture.
While Amy is a thoughtful, intimate portrait of an imperfect, gloriously talented woman, it's also an indictment of not just celebrity culture but the men who run it.
A stunning portrait which it is hard to see ever being bettered.
A sad account of an incredibly talented yet tragic artist who fell victim to drugs and self-destruction, but the film disappoints and seems like a mere collage of archive footage and interviews to create a relatively superficial narrative of her life and not much else.
Super Reviewer
Not really a fan, but I was interested to see this. I didn't really know much about Amy aside from the car crash angle of her life. This gives you a good insight into her background and how things went the way they did. Honestly though, I think her life could have turned that way even if she wasn't famous. She just seemed very self destructive in personality. I don't personally love her style of music, but she did have talent and you can see that from the lyrics she wrote and of course her beautiful voice. I did feel quite sad for her, but on the other hand she really needed a kick a few times in her life. You can blame the parents, which she did, but at some point you're an adult and need to take responsibility for your own life choices. Not to sound harsh, I realise some people just can't. Amy was clearly one of them. This film does a good job of letting you see the Amy behind the horror stories. Sad.
"Amy" follows the life of Amy Winehouse, from being young and having a troubled life to her fame and fortune that ultimately lead to her demise. Not only is this an emotional story to tell, but her music truly did change the lives of people around her, as well as her family, whom had neglected her. This film is uniquely made, due to the fact that the interviewees are not shown, rather heard overtop images/videos of themselves. This is a very unconventional documentary in style and tone. I loved watching this film, although it does feel it's length. To really get everything out of this picture that you hope to, I fell that you must be a huge fan of Amy Winehouse to begin with. I really enjoyed this film, because I respect her music and most of what she stood for, the troubles aside. The people in her life respected and adored her most of the time, so once the down spiral happens, it is extremely impactful and it truly is the core of this story. Her music even affected world renowned musicians and that is what gave me chills. "Amy" is a very well-made documentary that I will only be able to watch once, but it is extremely effective.
Young people who die are always martyrs. Throw in some celebrity, or better yet, worldwide popularity and glamour, and you have one of the most devastating public mournings in history. So it was with Amy Winehouse, a woman who never was left alone, whose music was so classic and jazzy that everyone took notice. Troubled from the start, Amy never quite found a way to be happy, making her a tragic figure, and a talent lost too soon. Part of the 27 Club that houses, Morrison, Cobain, Joplin, etc. Winehouse feared her own demise, and did so rightly. Read more at bluefairyblog.com
There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.
200 Essential Movies
Chosen by RT staff!
200 Freshest Movies
The best-reviewed since 1998
30 Great Scenes
30 great scenes in Rotten movies
Best of Netflix
Movies and shows to binge now
More News & Features
View All