83
Metascore
26 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirIf possible, Roberts' movie-within-a-movie is even more amazing than it sounds. She captures a tale of courage, heroism and tragedy more thrilling than any Hollywood spectacle.
- 88Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversLessin and Deal have made Trouble the Water a spellbinder you do not want to miss.
- 88PremierePremiereA remarkable and disturbing look at the personal stories glossed over by the headlines.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinYou can't make this stuff up. You can, however, capture it on film for all time. Trouble the Water is ineradicably moving.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe resilience of the movie's subjects--survivors of street crime and drugs and HIV--irradiates Trouble the Water like sunshine.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranA stirring documentary.
- 80The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThey have created an ingeniously fluid narrative structure that, when combined with Ms. Roberts’s visuals, news material and their own original 16-millimeter film footage, ebbs and flows like great drama.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayTrouble The Water is infuriating in its depiction of helpless Americans getting left behind, and uplifting in the way it shows the Roberts putting their lives together, but it's also frustrating, because it lacks some focus.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterKimberly's ground-zero home video of the storm is what really makes the film exceptional, although much of it is of such rough quality and execution that it struggles to hold up on the big screen.
- 60VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerThough tinged with the sheer gumption and personal resolve of amateur vidmaker and would-be rapper Kimberly Roberts, this is ultimately a minor doc contribution to the bulging library of Katrina-related films and TV reports.