85
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSan Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAthlete A gives us the story behind the story. It’s a terrific journalism movie, but it’s also a story of young women who persevered and found justice against the odds.
- 91Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEntertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattA measured if still-maddening look into the 2016 USA Gymnastics scandal.
- 91IndieWireKate ErblandIndieWireKate ErblandThrough even-handed reporting and a series of emotional first-person accounts, Athlete A excavates one of modern sports’ most horrific abusers and systems. It doesn’t do that by being preachy or shrill, instead working from one key belief: It must have started somewhere. Hopefully, Athlete A can contribute to ending it for good.
- 90Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganFrom the very beginning of Athlete A, Cohen and Shenk (Audrie & Daisy and An Inconvenient Sequel) visually confront the audience with the clear physical evidence that their documentary is about abused children and they never let that image fade away.
- 88RogerEbert.comRogerEbert.comOne former gymnast says, "The line between tough coaching and abuse gets blurred." This may be what it takes to win gold at the Olympics, but is it worth the cost?
- 85TheWrapSteve PondTheWrapSteve PondAs with many of the other recent documentaries about abuse, it hits hard, making it difficult to watch without being both heartbroken and enraged by a system that, in the words of one gymnast, “would sacrifice our young to win.”
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanAthlete A is a testament to their perseverance, and to the courage of all those who stood up in court to face the man who had violated their humanity. But it’s also a testament to the obsession that gave cover to their abuse — to a culture that wanted winners at any cost.
- 80The New York TimesKristen Yoonsoo KimThe New York TimesKristen Yoonsoo KimCohen and Shenk amplify the voices of the survivors while recognizing that Nassar’s arrest doesn’t dissipate the pain or deep-rooted exploitation.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinPackaged as a standalone film, this fascinating and sensitively handled accounting shines a light on the abuse scandal that was exposed by the Indianapolis Star's investigative reporting into USA Gymnastics (USAG).