76
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- As it did with the actual case, Happy Valley will divide audiences and create heated discussions over the many contradicting reactions given by its subjects. However, there’s one point that won’t be controversial: It’s one of the best documentaries of the year.
- 90The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyHappy Valley is a devastating portrait of a community — and, by extension, a nation — put under a spell, even reduced to grateful infantilism, by the game of football.
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlNothing in this film (and little in any other movie this year) compares to the scenes of Sandusky's adopted son, Matt, recounting his realization that the charges of pedophilia against Sandusky squared with the ways Sandusky had treated him, too — treatment he'd never been brave enough to admit.
- 80The DissolveNoel MurrayThe DissolveNoel MurrayHappy Valley’s subject matter is difficult, but not Bar-Lev’s approach, which unfolds like an outstanding piece of long-form magazine reportage, taking into account history, culture, and the personalities of multiple major characters.
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottHappy Valley, even as it revisits past events, has a chilling timeliness.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfIt’s a ruined community grappling with belated ethics; that’s the real story here.
- 70VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangFor a film that is very much about the need to continually question our heroes and hold them to a higher standard, Happy Valley offers an unapologetic tribute to one man’s painful honesty and a tacit rebuke to those who couldn’t muster anywhere near the same courage.
- 63Slant MagazineSlant MagazineOnce the media caravan departs, the doc meanders, torn between its obligation to reportage and its interest in a town riven by America's thirst for justice.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeLess an investigation into or comprehensive summary of the Penn State sex-abuse scandal than a look at the feelings it elicited, Amir Bar-Lev's Happy Valley is more concerned with the phenomenon of team spirit than any single question of fact or moral judgment.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloHappy Valley’s interviews with figures directly related to the case—Paterno’s widow and sons; Sandusky’s adopted stepson, who suddenly declared himself another of Sandusky’s victims toward the end of the trial, after having previously denied having been abused—shed no light on the subject whatsoever, coming across like an obligatory waste of time.