America: Freedom To Fascism (2006)

Critic Reviews

• Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

  Russo's brand of libertarianism is at best naive and at worst tin-foil-hat crazy.

• Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

  Essentially the filmmaking equivalent of an enraged blog on the Web -- pointed and provocative, but not exactly a comprehensive source for the issues it addresses.

• Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

  While the film -- which Russo produced, directed, edited and wrote -- has some fascinating and compelling arguments, it quickly assumes the tone of an angry diatribe rather than a well-reasoned political discussion.

• Nathan Lee, New York Times

  The mess we're in never looked so messy.

• Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

  As if anticipating bad reviews, Russo ends his scattershot assault with a preemptive strike against the media: 'It's just the Federal Reserve System trying to save itself.' If you buy that line, then I'm the great-grandson of a 1913 conspirator.

• Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

  Aaron Russo's America: Freedom to Fascism can't even think straight, it's so mad.

• Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

  "America: Freedom To Fascism" captures America's current gloom and doom zeitgeist with plenty of controversial ideas to send any dinner party into a shouting match.

• Kam Williams, Upstage Magazine

  Concludes that America, instead of being by the people and for the people is, in truth, an oppressive, exploitative Big Brother where government and corporations reign supreme.

• Kam Williams, One People's Project

  A thought-provoking clarion call which concludes that America, instead of being by the people and for the people is, in truth, an oppressive, exploitative Big Brother where government and corporations reign supreme.

• Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

  repetitive and completely self-serving, with Russo making a serious of specious arguments that are largely laughed at by his serious subjects

• Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City

  There is food for thought here. But Russo loses his grasp on the material once he expands his focus.

• Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com

  If Russo really wanted to attract an audience, he should have called this: Why You Don't Have To Pay Taxes! Now that's a title that would get people in the seats.

• Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune

  Russo comes off as a paranoid ranter, the movie equivalent of the street-corner pamphleteer with tinfoil in his hat to keep out the gamma rays.

• Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star

  The catch is the IRS doesn't care and will seize all your property and possibly throw you in jail if you refuse to pay.Talk about a buzzkill.

• Marc Mohan, Oregonian

  If it's true, we're all due a monumental refund; if not, Russo and his cohorts may want to start looking for write-offs.

• Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com

  Even the staunchest and most forgiving of Libertarians would have to admit that this film comes up quite short.

• Brandon Judell, New York Theatre Wire

  Russo feels his direction of this film is a brave, seditious deed. The audience I was surrounded by at an advance screening agreed.

• Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette

  Lies, damn lies and statistics. It's pure propaganda.

• Dan Jardine, Cinemania

  This movie is so humorless that it makes you wax nostalgic for the good old days when Michael Moore was sticking it to the man.

• Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  Russo is a clearly a healthy minded skeptic who tries to get both sides of the story.

Read all 21 critic reviews