Critic Reviews
52
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
5(33%)
mixed
8(53%)
negative
2(13%)
Showing 15 Critic Reviews
75
Tries to have it both ways -- as a kitschy ode to bodybuilding culture and as a tragic story of a man who was persecuted for his dreams.
70
Fanciful and highly entertaining docudrama.
67
There's an undeniable energy, originality and -- most hearteningly -- optimism here that makes Beefcake well worth your time, shortcomings and all.
63
It leaves you with an odd, sweet-and-sour taste - nostalgia painted in pastel colors, streaked with black smears.
63
Much to enjoy in this potpourri of silly fun and forbidden games, but a bit less ambition and a tad more focus might have helped.
60
As a mix of nonfiction and wafer-thin drama, however, it's a genial mess in which both elements emerge undercooked
60
An illuminating and engrossing look at the life and times of pioneer Los Angeles physique photographer Bob Mizer
60
Beefcake's messiness has real charm, and its tribute to Mizer is both appropriately complicated and poignantly sexy.
60
A fascinating double-edged portrait of 1950s Los Angeles.
58
A heady, impressionistic mixture of biography, fantasy and social history in which it isn't always clear which is which.
