73
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe movie also captures Thompson's tragedy: the haze of drugs and bad writing that consumed him for no less than his last 30 years.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttA biographical documentary doesn't get any better than this.
- 88Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversJohnny Depp, who paid for the 2005 funeral in which Thompson's ashes were fired out of a cannon, narrates with just the right mix of awe and impertinence.
- 88USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigA mesmerizing look at the mythic quality and anarchic spirit of the irreverent and rabble-rousing journalist.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinA tender, even-tempered elegy to a writer who at his peak could ingest staggering (literally) amounts of drugs and alcohol and transform, like Popeye after a can of spinach, into a superhuman version of himself--more trenchant, more cutting, more hilarious than any political journalist before or since.
- 80VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveySubject's career being inextricably tied to two extremely entertaining U.S. decades, Gonzo has a wealth of delightful archival footage to draw on, both directly involving Thompson and evoking the cultural landscape around him.
- Like Thompson's work itself, it sometimes feels like a smoke screen, a colorful but distracting, distracted set of pretenses hiding as much as they reveal.
- 75The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsIt's more Thompson-for-beginners than an exhaustive inquiry, but as introductions go, it's thorough and thoughtful.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceWhile the evidence of his spotty post-1970s work is hard to refute, Gonzo proves what a vapid, overvalued commodity edginess is, championing Thompson's best work for brass-tacks insight more than brass-balled outrage.
- 50Washington PostStephen HunterWashington PostStephen HunterIt seems to celebrate him more for his attitude, his fashionably leftist politics, his fame and his friendships than for any meaningful accomplishment.