75
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhat is finally clear: It doesn't matter a damn what your will says if you have $25 billion, and politicians and the establishment want it.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt's memorable when it meditates on the changing face of where we look at art, and how that changes the art itself.
- 80Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonThe Art of the Steal's thorough research, bolstered by many fiery talking heads, makes it one of the most successful advocacy docs in recent years and may prompt some firsthand investigating of your own.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfDespite the unsubtlety of the movie’s stance, a dizzyingly complex portrait emerges: that of pissed-off museum neighbors, arrogant critics and even the NAACP’s dignified Julian Bond, articulating a racial component.
- 80The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisOne weakness is the too-brief, tantalizing peeks inside the Barnes. Yet, like the movie as a whole, this limitation comes with dividends: it made me want to hop on a plane to Philadelphia as soon as possible to see the original before it’s emptied.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinCalculated to enrage and pulling it off like gangbusters, Don Argott’s documentary The Art of the Steal pits the legacy of the late Albert C. Barnes’s Barnes Foundation (which boasts arguably the world’s finest collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art) against the social-climbing, philistine, downright Nixonian machinations of Philadelphia’s wealthiest--who gamed the system and pried the collection loose in defiance of Barnes’s legal will.
- 75The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasA damning example of justice bending toward those who can most afford to buy it.
- 63Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyPhiladelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyAs a movie, Steal is as finely wrought as the decorative ironworks that hang on the walls of the Barnes between Picassos and Seurats. Yet as a narrative of the facts, it is as one-sided as a plaintiff's brief.
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanArgott treats Barnes' story as an intellectual crime thriller, uncovering each new surprise -- and a seemingly endless parade of villains -- with a deadpan flourish.