Cartel (2010)

Critic Reviews

• Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

  With its clunky chalkboard chapters and a parade of static talking heads too often repeating the filmmaker's underlying theme of political corruption and union myopia, it's a C theatrical experience. Maybe a C+ for right intentions.

• Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

  The film -- for which Bowdon directed, wrote, narrated, produced, operated a camera, composed music and sang -- spends a little too much time on static shots of flickering computer screens filled with gray text, and it has the look of cheap video.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  There are plenty of legitimate grievances here, but like Michael Moore at his pushiest, Bowdon often undermines his own argument with obvious factual cherry-picking.

• Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

  Bowdon makes an insufferable first impression, and his movie often looks as if it were shot with a camera-phone (for good measure, he includes actual camera-phone footage, which admittedly looks worse than his).

• J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

  Bowdon makes a compelling argument against the defensive maneuvers of teachers' unions and in favor of vouchers and charter schools, but his documentary is no exercise in free-market cant.

• Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

  Director Bob Bowdon is in the Michael Moore mold, except his Gotcha! style of filmmaking is more likely to be supported by facts.

• Ian Buckwalter, DCist

  But this amateurish, ultimately poorly argued documentary isn't likely to convert many of those on the fence on this issue.

• Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters

  In The Cartel, New Jersey public schools are an example of what's going wrong in U.S. school systems generally, despite a "spending explosion."

• Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl

  ...you will more likely find yourself annoyed by this documentary's similarity to a series of television segments pasted together and stretched out to 90 minutes...

• Christian Toto, What Would Toto Watch?

  You may not agree with the solutions offered in The Cartel but it's impossible not to be outraged at the corruption on display.

• Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper

  Anyone who gets a thrill out of town meetings may salivate at what Bowdon throws at viewers, which is all statistics and wonkery.

• Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press

  If it played on New Jersey TV, I bet The Cartel would open some eyes, but as Bowdon tries to parlay a very local issue into a nationally released movie, it's more likely to close them.

• Mark Dujsik, Mark Reviews Movies

  The question, "Is our children learning," has never seemed a more appropriate statement for the state of education in the United States.

• Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Daily News

  Bowdon believes fervently in school choice, and brings his argument to theaters at a time when the tectonic plates in the stratified debate are shifting violently.

• Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  Watching this film, you'd think that most public schools were Mafia-run slaughterhouses and most charter schools were urban academies with high success rates. Bowdon barely mentions the religiosity and profit motive behind some charter schools.

• Matt Pais, Metromix.com

  It makes no sense to approach a nationwide issue with such a limited focus.

• Alicia Potter, Boston Phoenix

  The topic may be urgent, and the fallout heartbreaking, but this clumsy treatment barely passes.

• Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

  After ninety minutes of charts, graphs, and tearful testimony, we get the point.

Read all 18 critic reviews