Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones Reviews

Top Critic
Hannah Giorgis
The Atlantic
September 10, 2019
Sticks and Stones registers as a temper tantrum, the product of a man who wants it all -- money, fame, influence -- without much having to answer to anyone.
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Roger Moore
Movie Nation
September 8, 2019
You've got our attention, pal. You just haven't delivered the funny.
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4
Dan Hamamura
Pajiba
September 6, 2019
Sticks & Stones leaves the audience with the sense that there was more work to be done before the special was filmed.
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Laura Bradley
Vanity Fair
September 6, 2019
Ultimately, though, it feels like stale work from a comedian who was once known for truly boundary-pushing comedy - the kind that actually understood nuance, particularly where famous and powerful men were concerned.
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Top Critic
Melanie McFarland
Salon.com
September 5, 2019
Sticks & Stones exists as a defiant design to intentionally offend large swaths of the audience Chappelle deems too thin-skinned and easily outraged.. while serving up simple, low-bar yucks to anyone yearning for validation of their anti-P.C. stance.
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Ian Thomas Malone
Ian Thomas Malone
September 4, 2019
Lacking empathy can certainly be amusing, but Sticks & Stones is a tired routine by a man who forgot to layer jokes into his act, too often sounding like a pundit on Fox News.
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Alison Herman
The Ringer
August 29, 2019
Sticks and Stones is designed to generate inflammatory coverage... It's a symbiotic cycle with no end in sight, and it's become the last thing a beloved provocateur should ever want to be: predictable.
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Garrett Martin
Paste Magazine
August 28, 2019
Sticks & Stones is terrible, and [Dave] Chappelle can only blame himself for that.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/10
Top Critic
Inkoo Kang
Slate
August 27, 2019
Like dropping in on a rascally uncle who doesn't know, or doesn't care, how much he's disappointing you.
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Alci Rengifo
Entertainment Voice
August 27, 2019
"Sticks & Stones" isn't necessarily a failure, it just feels like Chappelle presenting half-formed material with few jokes that truly hit hard and stand out.
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Kyle Smith
National Review
August 27, 2019
The set mostly misses the mark. And what is that mark? The truth. Chappelle remains one of the most vital, and certainly among the most daring, of standups... His latest hour is a setback.
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