Generation Wealth

R

Released Jul 20, 2018

1h 46m

Documentary

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for Generation Wealth: Trailer 1

List

46%

95 Reviews

Tomatometer

52%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lauren Greenfield examines materialism, celebrity culture, and social status and reflects on the desire to be wealthy at any cost. This visual history of the growing obsession with wealth uses first-person interviews in Los Angeles, Moscow, Dubai, China and around the world to bear witness to the global boom-and-bust economy and document its complicated consequences.

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Critics Consensus

Generation Wealth has admirable aims, but never manages to focus long enough to put together the type of cogent argument made by director Lauren Greenfield's earlier works.

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Julie R

I was so surprised to see the bad reviews of this film! I do understand the criticism that Lauren spent too much time on her own family and herself, but I felt that it helped personalize her quest to understand what American values have become. She was looking inside her own life and loved ones to see what mattered to them, and how the constant greed around them effects their view of the world. I saw some people also took offense to her criticism of the "younger generation". Personally, I felt she was speaking out for them more than anything. She was showing the stress and depression so many young people deal with under the pressures of hyper capitalism. Overall, I thought this is a fascinating and important film. Also uplifting in it's own way, as you see many people sucked into a world of destructive greed pull themselves out and find a way back to themselves. I highly recommend this film to everyone, but especially to those feeling constantly weighed down by the ego and superficiality all around us.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/03/23

Full Review

Remek K

A series of unrelated vignettes intercut with the filmmaker's examination of her life and family, this disjointed documentary only partly delivers on its premise. Lauren Greenfield promises the viewer a cautionary tale about America's obsession with money and wealth, but what we get instead is an incoherent stew that seems to have been cooked up from scraps left over from previous projects. This is somewhat evidenced by several references to her chance encounters that birthed other projects. Ironically, Greenfield never fails to ostentatiously lord her entitled life of a Harvard legacy over the audience, with a less-than-subtle hint of her older son (crew, perfect ACT score as it is emphasized several times) being Harvard-bound as well. With the final scenes depicting a coffee table book of her photographs being printed and bound, one cannot escape the feeling of having been duped into watching a two-hour commercial.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/09/23

Full Review

Andrea W

When stripped down to the bare bones, one can clearly see that human nature throughout history will always be the same. People will always succum to the pitfalls of greed; whether that be for money, power, sex, beauty or gluttony, etc. Lauren Greenfield, however, is a master at finding flickers of hope in our world of excess and she manages to weave a beautifully concise, yet intimate tapestry out of 25 years worth of human connection and study. Throughout these stories we see that some of those that fall victim to the chokehold of fleeting earthly pleasures find redemption, or have come to realize that, above all, relationships, loved ones and self care should be the priority.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Fantastic documentary into the lives of rich, famous, and mostly, the money hungry! Great flick.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/06/22

Full Review

cinephile f

I think it was brilliant. I love how the director reflects back the excess of western culture to the viewer. I'm surprised the reviews are so low. I really learned a lot from it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

david o

This documentary wasn't what I expected given the title and description. It jumped around to several different topics which could be confusing. It was just ok.... 3 stars.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Lauren Greenfield

Director

Lauren Greenfield

Actor

Bret Easton Ellis

Actor

Paris Cronin

Actor

Mijanou Bardot

Actor

Sheldon Greenfield

Actor

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Generation Wealth: Trailer 1

1:59

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Jessica Kiang

The Playlist

What we get is a film that is most fun when observing the cautionary lifestyles of the once-rich and adjacent-to-famous, but most insightful when it pulls outs of the fast lane and Greenfield's eye turns inward on her own life.

Rated: B

Oct 23, 2018

Full Review

Robert Daniels

812filmreviews

Greenfield's film is all over the place, and is more stream of consciousness than informative or even entertaining.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 26, 2018

Full Review

Joseph Walsh

Time Out

Bleak and compelling viewing.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 22, 2018

Full Review

Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

Greenfield wants us to know that greed, despite what Gordon Gekko so famously said, is not good.

Rated: 3.5/5

Feb 28, 2021

Full Review

Bianca Garner

In Their Own League

This documentary really puts things in perspective for you. Money doesn't equal happiness.

Feb 3, 2021

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

Greenfield is aware of the irony. But she's also aware of the pain underneath that statement, encouraging us to lay down our smirks and quips and find it in ourselves to feel it too...

Dec 8, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Lauren Greenfield examines materialism, celebrity culture, and social status and reflects on the desire to be wealthy at any cost. This visual history of the growing obsession with wealth uses first-person interviews in Los Angeles, Moscow, Dubai, China and around the world to bear witness to the global boom-and-bust economy and document its complicated consequences.

Director: Lauren Greenfield
Producer: Geralyn White Dreyfous, Lilly Hartley
Screenwriter: Lauren Greenfield
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Production Co: Evergreen Pictures
Rating: R (Nudity|Drug Material|Disturbing Images|Strong Sexual Content)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 20, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 16, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $236.3K
Runtime: 1h 46m

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