Kate Plays Christine

Released Aug 24, 2016

1h 52m

Documentary

List

83%

70 Reviews

Tomatometer

52%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Actress Kate Lyn Sheil prepares to play a news reporter who killed herself on television in 1974.

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Critics Consensus

Kate Plays Christine blurs genres -- and the line between fact and reality -- with a cleverly provocative docudrama look at newscaster Christine Chubbuck's life and death.

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Karl Quinn

The Age (Australia)

Sheil is never less than heroic in her multi-faceted quest for truth in all its uncomfortable guises.

Jun 13, 2018

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

The movie has been praised as a genre-bending experiment, though it's more like a bottom-feeding exploitation movie masquerading as an art film.

Dec 8, 2016

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Andrew Lowry

Empire Magazine

Neither tribute nor analysis, this doc offers an inappropriately off-beam treatment for such a serious subject.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 19, 2016

Full Review

Jordan Brooks

Vague Visages

Kate Plays Christine finds itself at the at intersection of reality and performance art, but no matter how fabricated the precursor, the emotional core remains intact and exceptionally powerful.

Aug 1, 2023

Full Review

Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

The actress’s discomfort pales beside her subjects: it is a film about the fundamentally uncinematic (because tough to externalize) subject of depression, and it crept under my skin.

Jan 18, 2023

Full Review

Dustin Chang

ScreenAnarchy

It's not even a character study. They are after the process of an actress trying to connect with her subject. It's also about the nature of performances and giving another layer of complexities in portraying real life characters.

Jul 17, 2020

Full Review

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david f

I liked this experimental film about the infamous suicide of Christine Chubbuck that appeared on live TV in the 1970s. The film takes Chubbuck seriously and confronts the audience in a thoughtful, shocking way at the end.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Kate Plays Christine is a "documentary" with stunning cinematography and a unique approach to the genre. The fact that the film-in-film is not real, does hinder the experience though and makes it feel a little bit empty at the end.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie watches like a vanity project for Kate Lyn Shiel to indulge in the lengths taken for research as a character actor. Or worse still, a resentment project perhaps for not being offered Rebecca Hall's role in the much better biopic film "Christine".

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This pseudo-documentary/re-enactment film fails to entertain (for the most part) or even to reveal anything remotely significant about its subject, Christine Chubbuck. Kate as Christine demonstrates all the depth, personality and inner turmoil of a houseplant. She drudges through the film monotone and unsmiling, supposedly laboring under the misguided notion that a person who suffers from depression must consistently behave in a stereotypical depressed manner. Oddly, even when out of character and touring Sarasota in "researching" the role of Christine, Kate maintains a gloomy, mechanical affect. I would estimate that at least 35 minutes of the entire film consists of Kate blankly starring at nothing without any dialogue, action or purpose. And if you're able to stomach the endless moping and make it to the few scenes in which Kate actually gets around to 'playing Christine', there you'll witness an awkwardly contrived performance reminiscent of a high school drama club. NOTE: This film is absolutely terrible, but I do recommend watching the entire thing IF (and only if) for some strange reason you want to experience the same level of irritation and exhaustion that parents raising teenagers must feel at the end of every day. For the rest of us though, if you're still curious or if you're just a fan of bad acting and want a good laugh, skip through to the last few minutes to where Kate is faced with the challenge of re-enacting Christine Chubbuck's final moments. SPOILER: Kate has a meltdown. A big fat, overly rehearsed, poorly acted tantrum worthy of The Room. Repeatedly, she balks at completing the scene in which Christine shoots herself. Suddenly, the prop gun and fake blood become too much for the alleged actress/suspected zombie to handle. "I can't do it... You have to tell me WHY you want to see it!" she shouts. Ahem... Kate, it's your JOB and you're being PAID to do it. But I digress... Kate eventually aims the prop gun at the camera and goes on a minute long tirade ending in a weird moment of silence, followed by Kate rolling her eyes and sulkily saying "F*** it. It's all bulls*** anyway" and then finally turning the prop gun on herself. When she pulls the trigger, at a moment when she should be rendered incapacitated by a bullet, Kate gasps and sort of sets down the gun and places her arms on the table before letting her head drop; assuming the pose of a school kid sleeping on his desk. Definitely one of the worst death scenes ever acted :) You would expect that to be the end of the movie... BUT NO! THERE'S MORE! After a dramatic pause, Kate sits up again covered in fake blood and resumes her hysterics. "There, are you happy now?" she questions the audience before calling us "all a bunch of f***ing sadists". So... am I happy now? Well, I was one of the silly people who watched the entire movie; sitting through 2 hours of moping building up to a climax of insults. So no, I'm not happy. Not everyone who types the name "Christine Chubbuck" is searching for a clip of her blowing her brains out on live TV, and the film makers are, in my opinion, a**holes for lumping everyone into that same category. There were a few, very brief moments in which persons who both knew and worked with Christine Chubbuck are interviewed; however, those interviews are unsuccessful in redeeming this film as a whole. Wanting to learn about Christine, her history, her life, her personality, her demons, her motives, etc. I got nothing out of this production. But the ending is still good for a laugh (if that's the only part you watch)

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The kid can act and I'm worried for her well being. Might need a new career choice

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A remarkable film. You've got to watch "Christine" too.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

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Robert Greene

Director

Steven C Bovio

Self

Chritstine Chubbuck

Self

Stephanie Coatney

Self

Michael Ray Davis

Self

Zachary Gossett

Self

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Synopsis

Actress Kate Lyn Sheil prepares to play a news reporter who killed herself on television in 1974.

Director: Robert Greene
Producer: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos
Screenwriter: Robert Greene
Distributor: Grasshopper Film
Production Co: 4th Row Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 52m

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