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Movies / On DVD / Steal This Movie
Steal This Movie

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Steal This Movie (2000)

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Reviews Counted:40

Fresh:22

Rotten:18

Average Rating:5.5/10

Consensus: D'Onofrio's performance fails to do justice to Hoffman, and the depiction of the 60s also rings false.

Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Steal This Movie charts the rise and fall of Abbie Hoffman -- activist, radical, fugitive, lover -- and leads us through the maze of music, politics and personal struggle of the late Sixties and... Steal This Movie charts the rise and fall of Abbie Hoffman -- activist, radical, fugitive, lover -- and leads us through the maze of music, politics and personal struggle of the late Sixties and Seventies.

Abbie's story reflects a culture that abandoned comfort for freedom, money for passion, complacency for instinct. He recognized an enlightened breed of renegade soldiers in this hippie generation. They were young, bold, defiant, reactive. They had invaded his home -- the Lower East Side of Manhattan -- and they stood for resistance, reaction and change.

And Abbie would lead and inspire them through love, sex, and revolutionary joy to raise their consciousness and help end the war in Vietnam. Like a psychological Robin Hood, he "liberated" from the materialistic, narrow-minded rich. He burned money and "levitated" the Pentagon. With the love of his life, Anita, by his side, Abbie outraged the establishment and seduced his passion generation into action.

In 1968, Abbie, Anita, and a small circle of friends founded Yippie! -- a band of revolutionaries organized to protest the war at the Democratic National Convention. The police riots that followed made headlines the world over and exposed the repression at the heart of our free society. Abbie stood trial with seven others for inciting the riot and became the court jester and conscience of the proceedings. The group became known as the Chicago Seven, forever a symbol of the litigious battle for political expression in our country.

Abbie's chutzpah and brilliant theatrics earned him his status as counter-cultural hero and led to their release on appeal. Few know the price he paid. Abbie and Anita lived under constant FBI surveillance and endured a Hoover-led smear campaign that cost them work, friends and, finally, their marriage. Hoffman went underground in 1974, leaving behind Anita and a young son, America. They were desperately in love but no longer able to stay together. [More]

Starring: Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Kevin Pollak, Jeanne Tripplehorn

Starring: Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Kevin Pollak, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kevin Corrigan, Donal Logue, Troy Garity

Director: Robert Greenwald

Director: Robert Greenwald
Producer: Jacobus Rose

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Steal This Movie

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21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

An uneven but fairly satisfying survey of Abbie's later life.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
01/01/00
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Deserves to be seen by a large audience for bringing the man's [Abbie Hoffman] endeavors to glorious life.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
01/01/00
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

For those who regarded Hoffman as the Bugs Bunny of radicalized Amerika, he wasn't the person played by Vincent D'Onofrio in Steal This Movie, good intentions notwithstanding.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Henry Cabot Beck
Henry Cabot Beck
Film.com

D'Onofrio's blunderbuss performance obliterates whatever wit and charm Hoffman had.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
01/01/00
J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
Village Voice

Most of Steal This Movie plays with all the historical verity and cheapo sheen of a made-for-VH1 original.

comment Comment
01/01/00
J. Rentilly
J. Rentilly
TNT's Rough Cut
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
01/01/00
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

There might have been a better, more involving method of telling Hoffman’s story, but it is expressed with a firm sense of commitment to accuracy and authenticity.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Vincent D'Onofrio does capture Hoffman's charisma and nuttiness -- and he's the only reason to resist the temptation to skip this exasperating movie.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

Garofalo is remarkable as the feisty, level-headed Anita.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Greenwald and D'Onofrio bring the man to vibrant life.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
01/01/00
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Norm Schrager
Norm Schrager
Filmcritic.com

What's missing is any sense of who Abbie Hoffman actually was.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Pam Grady
Pam Grady
Reel.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Herald | comment Comment
01/01/00
Paul Sherman
Paul Sherman
Boston Herald
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Here, finally, is a film about the '60s that comes closest to showing the true grit and idealistic vulnerability that mixed to make the hippie generation an engine for social change.

Full Review Source: IFilm | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Campbell
Rob Campbell
IFilm

Information enters the screen from too many directions ...This is distracting at first, but the movie smooths out and finds its rhythm, and the closing passages are quite moving.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Steal This Movie puts a fresh spin on the late '60s.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
01/01/00
Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell
Citysearch

Likable but muddled.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 >> >|
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