critics consensus

While neither as deep nor as skillfully constructed as its subject might deserve, Web Junkie remains a chillingly serious look at a nightmarish problem. Read critic reviews

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Web Junkie Photos

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Movie Info

Three young men are sent to a treatment center in Beijing to be cured of their gaming addictions.

Genre:

biography, drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Hilla Medalia, Shosh Shlam
Producer:

Hilla Medalia, Shosh Shlam
Writer:

Hilla Medalia, Shosh Shlam
Release Date (Streaming):

Nov 5, 2015
Runtime:

1h 14m
Production Co:

Warrior Poets, Medalia Productions, Yes Docu, Impact Partners, kNow Productions, Chicken And Egg Pictures, New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and Television, Shlam Productions

Cast & Crew

Hilla Medalia
Director

Shosh Shlam
Director

Hilla Medalia
Writer

Shosh Shlam
Writer

Jeremy Chilnick
Executive Producer

Dan Cogan
Executive Producer

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Web Junkie

Critics Consensus: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Gets Shredded

View All

Critic Reviews for Web Junkie

All Critics (24) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (7)

The campers, of course, hate it, and many seem to suggest it becomes basically another game to them. Figure it out, get released, go back to the computer.

July 12, 2015 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Hinckley
New York Daily News
The film is fascinating and often darkly funny, but it's hard not to wish for some actual analysis to flesh out the many scenes of grim people in gray rehab.

August 7, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Farran Smith Nehme
New York Post
The human stories in "Web Junkie" are instantly identifiable, stories of a world where everyone has been brought closer together and simultaneously kept apart.

August 6, 2014 | Full Review…

Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
The kids are as uncommunicative as teenage boys tend to be in every country, and shots of them marching in unison or looking sadly out from behind chain-link fences are only compelling for so long.

August 6, 2014 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Mike D'Angelo
AV Club
Without a frame of footage nor a single interview presented from outside the camp, the documentary shows a capitalist nightmare that accords its victims zero wiggle room.

August 6, 2014 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Steve Macfarlane
Slant Magazine
The film lacks either the immersive intensity that would galvanize emotions or a context that would provide enlightenment. Its brief tour of an unpleasant corner of reality feels less revelatory than voyeuristic.

August 5, 2014 | Full Review…

A.O. Scott
New York Times
A timely and thought-provoking documentary about efforts in China to deprogram teenagers addicted to Internet gaming.

August 14, 2015 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality & Practice
Docu explores Internet addiction and family relationships.

August 11, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Amanda Nojadera
Common Sense Media
A tough love remedy for internet addiction designed for impressionable young minds which prefer virtual reality to relating in the flesh.

August 5, 2014 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Kam Williams
Baret News
Heartbreaking, illuminating, frightening and intimate. Bravo to the filmmakers for shedding light on an issue that many people can relate to to some degree.

August 4, 2014 | Rating: 7.55/10 | Full Review…

Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru
(The filmmaker's) free form, peak-around-corners style deprives the film of structure but ensures moments of often brutal honesty.

June 26, 2014 | Full Review…

Simon Foster
Screen-Space
An occasionally stirring peek into a place and phenomenon that's only slightly hard to believe exists, but that's as good as it gets.

May 30, 2014 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Christopher Campbell
Nonfics