The U.S. vs. John Lennon: Critic Reviews

The U.S. vs. John Lennon is the easy-listening version of a firebrand documentary; nothing in it is as incendiary as its title.

Makes the case that, in just about every way that counted, Lennon was a better person than Richard M. Nixon.

Readers tempted to write off that episode as yet another paranoid fantasy of The Left should take heed: The U.S. vs. John Lennon includes the firsthand testimony of the spies themselves, from apostate FBI agents to the unapologetic G. Gordon Liddy.

The documentary's a hagiography, no mistake about it, but a fascinating one all the same, and it makes the case that Lennon was as much a genius provocateur as he was a cracked saint.

This David Leaf-John Scheinfeld production is not only poignant but even topical.

While there is nothing particularly new in the film, it is a stirring celebration of a man of enormous talent, humor and humanity, laid waste by an assassin in New York in 1980.

Loosely organized but still fascinating.

The film's first half has zero to do with its title, and its second half digs up familiar turf.

Works by reminding us of Lennon's best qualities: His impish, imperturbable sense of humor, his quick intelligence, his successful bantering with a hostile crush of world press mercenaries.

It's a movie that, at its best, makes you ache with the memory of an anguished era and its fallen pop culture hero.

His life has been raked over by so many books, movies, magazine articles, and TV shows that The U.S. vs. John Lennon barely justifies its own existence.

It's full-up with footage that shows the hero of the Yoko Ono-sanctioned film to be as witty, entertaining and dependably charismatic as ever, and rarely as simple-minded as his detractors would have it.

Humanizing Lennon to those who might find the man a bit inaccessible, and adding the word 'courage' to his long list of positive attributes.

The storyline follows the Ono-approved bio that posits Lennon as saint, excising his dark periods and their years apart, which could have enhanced the portrait.

Documents the Nixon administration's failed, almost comically inept attempt to deport the most political of The Beatles and his wife, Yoko Ono.

By the time The U.S. vs. John Lennon is done, the filmmakers have reinforced the sense that pop music once produced prophets, as well as profits.

Documentarians David Leaf and John Scheinfeld go beyond the usual glibness, revealing a much fuller portrait of the man.

The aim may be laudable, but nothing gets hit except some awfully tired targets. And fatigue doesn't resonate.

In exploring a little-known story of political persecution, The U.S. vs. John Lennon also sheds some unexpected light on the uneven and still undigested career of one of the most paradoxical artists pop culture has yet produced.

Those hoping for something hard-hitting won't find it here. This is strictly on the level of what one might uncover during a VH1 special.

A few new insights into Nixon administration criminality amid old news and favorite John Lennon tunes.

It feels as if [Ono's] cooperation resulted in a softened perspective on the musician-turned- activist-turned-icon.

Lennon's spirit, like his music, shines through this movie like a beacon.

There's little sign of the honest ambivalence that made Lennon a great artist, if a questionable spokesman.