Steal This Movie!

Steal This Movie! is a 2000 American biographical film directed by Robert Greenwald and written by Bruce Graham, based on two books: To America with Love: Letters From the Underground by Anita and Abbie Hoffman and Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel by Marty Jezer.[2] The film follows 1960s radical figure Abbie Hoffman, and stars Vincent D'Onofrio and Janeane Garofalo, with Jeanne Tripplehorn and Kevin Pollak.

Not to be confused with Steal This Film.
Steal This Movie!
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Greenwald
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music byMader
CinematographyDenis Lenoir
Edited byKimberly Ray
Production
company
Distributed byLions Gate Films
Release date
  • March 4, 2000 (2000-03-04) (Santa Barbara)
  • August 18, 2000 (2000-08-18) (United States)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$76,424[1]

The film follows Hoffman's (D'Onofrio) relationship with his second wife Anita (Garofalo) and their "awakening" and subsequent conversion to an activist life. The title of the film is a play on Hoffman's 1970 counter-culture guidebook titled Steal This Book.[3]

Steal This Movie! premiered at the 2000 Santa Barbara Film Festival, and also showed at the South by Southwest Film Festival.[4]

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 43 reviews, and an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "D'Onofrio's performance fails to do justice to Hoffman, and the depiction of the 60s also rings false."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6]

Some criticism of the film is that it is hagiographic of Abbie Hoffman and fails to give proper credit to other activists of the era like Paul Krassner, who co-founded the Yippies with Hoffman and his wife. Other critics disliked the film's editing, which frequently relied upon the use of documentary footage, voiceovers, and subtitles to help advance the plot. However, nearly all film reviewers agreed that the strong acting performance of Vincent D'Onofrio as Hoffman overcame the film's otherwise minor flaws and modest budget.

In September 2000, America Hoffman, son of Abbie and Anita, filed suit against Lions Gate Films in an attempt to block further distribution of the film, accusing the filmmakers of invasion of privacy and presenting an "unauthorized, false and uncomplimentary portrayal" of him as a child. In the suit, America protested his portrayal in the film as "a wimpy, quiet, sulking and effeminate 'mama's boy,'" and accused filmmakers of implying America "may be a homosexual."[7] America later dropped the suit and retracted his claims against the filmmakers, stating "I understand that the filmmaker's characterization of me and my relationship to my father was made in good faith and with honorable intentions."[8][9]

See also

References
  1. "Steal This Movie (2000)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  2. Holden, Stephen (August 18, 2000). "FILM REVIEW; That Was a Heady Time on the Left, Right?". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  3. Ebert, Robert (August 25, 2000). "Reviews: Steal This Movie". RobertEbert.com. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  4. Koehler, Robert (6 March 2000). "Steal This Movie!". Variety. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  5. "Steal This Movie (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  6. "Steal This Movie Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  7. Movie & TV News @ IMDb.com - Studio Briefing - 4 September 2000
  8. "Hoffman's Son Settles Movie Suit" - Associated Press, January 9, 2001
  9. "megamovies.cc". Wednesday, 28 December 2016
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