Critic Reviews

• J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

  The unsuspecting stars (who died in 1992 and '96, respectively) begin to seem less like nightmare neighbors and more like the victims of rampant exploitation and voyeurism.

• Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

  Bate chronicles the whole wooly story with admirable clarity and resourcefulness, even when a lack of visual material forces him to resort too often to reenactment and dramatization.

• Tom Keogh, Seattle Times

  Casts a wide net of inquiry over this sometimes appalling story, which raises timely questions about the differences between creation and exploitation.

• Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

  It's a strange story, and the stylish and well-edited documentary "Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure" gets it down. But yet it doesn't quite get it.

• Kyle Smith, New York Post

  For the most part, this is a feature-length documentary that begs to be turned into a YouTube clip -- junky and ephemeral.

• Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

  Goes from funny to not funny in about the length of time it takes for the lawyers to get involved.

• Brian Tallerico, HollywoodChicago.com

  What starts as a clever comedy piece about the popularity of the actual recordings becomes something more poignant when director Matthew Bate starts asking questions about privacy and unwanted celebrity.

• Chris Chang, Film Comment Magazine

  It's a fascinating, occasionally nauseating tale of wasted human life, energy, and brain cells.

• Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

  Bate's facile and dispiriting documentary never makes a case for why this particular slice of audio verité required resurrecting from the graveyard of pop culture arcana.

• Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  Bate sort of lets everyone off the hook under the art-for-art's-sake clause. But at least he raises the still-relevant question of whether just because you can tape your neighbor makes it art - or makes it right.

• Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)

  As much fun as "Shut Up, Little Man" is at times, you can't shake the feeling that watching the documentary is the next link in a long chain of exploitation that leads back 20 years.

• Mike Scott, Times-Picayune

  Director Matthew Bate misjudges the hilarity of it all, as it stops being funny -- and is instead depressing -- after 20 or so minutes.

• Chris Cabin, Filmcritic.com

  at once wholly melancholic and unexpectedly joyful, adjectives that I have yet to employ while describing any YouTube clip to date.

• Shawn Levy, Oregonian

  Despite the film's claim to be an anatomy of a pop culture craze, it's deeply parochial and has an opportunistic feel at its core.

• Matt Singer, IFC.com

  Manages to ask some heavy questions while maintaining a light tone.

• Noel Murray, AV Club

  There is a lot more going on here than the story of a largely forgotten underground sensation.

• Ethan Alter, Television Without Pity

  An entertaining, comprehensive look at a slender, but significant slice of pop culture history.

Read all 17 critic reviews