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My Old School

2022

Jono McLeod

Documentary, Alan Cumming

6.3

Documentary A 30-year-old man in Scotland creates a media frenzy when he pretends to be a teenager.

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"Like any good con man documentary, 'My Old School' keeps its audience guessing, delighted to be deceived"	POS
United Kingdom	Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"An eccentric little gem of a story, a tall tale told with irreverent cheer and considerable charm. Chief amongst its many attractions is the actor Alan Cumming (...) delivering a performance that is quite uncanny."	POS
United States	Steve Pond The Wrap	"[It] is enjoyably odd – for a while (...) Inventive filmmaking and some impressive lip syncing from Alan Cumming isn’t enough to overcome a story that wears thin"	NEU
United States	David Fear Rolling Stone	"This exceedingly creative and endlessly clever look back at a mysterious new student at a Scottish high school works its true-crime storyline in a way that sticks with you as much as the more 'serious' nonfiction entries"	POS
United States	Gary M. Kramer Salon	"McLeod's documentary may not leave viewers as gobsmacked as Brandon did when his ruse was revealed, but this improbable story is also too good not to be shared."	POS
United States	Ryan Lattanzio IndieWire	"It lacks the cynicism and hard edges of similar tales of systematic and psychological manipulation like 'Dirty John,' 'Lula Rich,' 'American Vandal'"	NEU
United States	Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle	"Intriguingly quirky (...) 'My Old School' will increasingly leave you slack-jawed (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Isaac Feldberg rogerebert.com	"A cheerfully gobsmacked if overly twisted-up documentary about one student’s second fifth year of secondary school at Glasgow’s Bearsden Academy (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Leslie Felperin The Hollywood Reporter	"A deliciously compelling look back in bemusement at the story around Brandon Lee"	POS
United States	Lena Wilson The Playlist	"An entertaining, inventive doc undercut by its self-indulgent silliness (...) 'My Old School' is easy enough on the eyes, but it's hardly done the work necessary to earn top marks"	NEU
United States	Christopher Schobert The Film Stage	"A hugely entertaining charmer. It’s at least 20 minutes too long and loses a great deal of steam once the secret is revealed, but it has all the earmarks of a streaming hit"	POS
Canada	Rachel Labonte Screen Rant	"'My Old School' takes a unique approach to uncovering a genuinely twisty real story, and as a result becomes a documentary that is not to be missed (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Martin Tsai AV Club	"Alan Cumming stars in Jono McLeod's documentary, which uses Daria-style animation to recreate an infamous deception"	NEG
United States	Derek Smith Slant	"The film is a perfectly entertaining retelling of an offbeat tale, but it’s also superficial and borderline exploitative (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Carlos Aguilar Los Angeles Times	"The varied narrative devices and surreptitious construction to preserve the secret for as long as possible deliver an engaging film that will be best enjoyed if one restrains from searching the plot twist online before watching"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Audacious tale (...) A documentary for anyone who's ever fantasised about going back in time to their school days, to reverse all those heartbreaks and humiliations. In other words: all of us (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Beth Webb Empire	"Weighted by a reliably mesmeric performance from Alan Cumming, this visually varied doc misses an opportunity to ask big questions, but still manages to pack a punch on a small scale (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Kristy Puchko Mashable	"A great documentary can lure you in with its bizarre premise, then envelop you with its atmosphere, its heart, and its jaw-dropping revelations. 'My Old School' proves to be just such a film"	POS
	Vladan Petkovic Cineuropa	"'My Old School' is a unique account of identity, deceit and unhealthy ambition, even though these three aspects do not necessarily come from the same place, making it all the more complex and perplexing"	POS

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