Our Towns

2021

1 hr. 37 min.

Documentary

List

89%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

55%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

A panoramic yet intimate view of small towns across the United States, based on the bestselling book "Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America," by journalists James and Deborah Fallows.

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Audience Member

"Our Towns" IS a very BIASED look at small towns across America. In California they "focused on diversity"... but very brilliantly glossed over the abuse of Native Americans, Mexicans, and other minorities....Slavery in the drug trade that is so abundant.... Slavery in prostitution, etc. But featured some town in Mississippi like they were still burning crosses in peoples yards! Saying that an old plantation home or a random monument was modern testimony to the slave trade. REALLY??? And we have no human slave trade now? White, black, Asian, Mexican, or any other nationality?The ignorance is truly abundant! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This documentary is nice looking but it feels very disjointed. For all of the sweeping aerial shots and interviews with countless community leaders (who remark on topics such as "how many breweries are popping up in Sioux Falls"), it never quite reaches a point. The whole film feels like a vanity piece for Deborah and James Fallows rather than an attempt to really tell a meaningful story.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

andy h

It doesn't break any barriers with its message, but it's still an invite full look that obviously took a long time and a lot of effort to put out there.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A dissapointing documentary companion piece that would have been better served diving into 3 towns within different regions of the country. What we get is a vapid look at the collapse of industry, community outreach programs and a sprinkle of cultural celebration mostly told from the managing perspective. Just wish we could have heard more from the locals rather than the local real estate flipper or renovater bringing another 20 breweries to small town america.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Steven Ascher

Director

Jeanne Jordan

Director

Deborah Fallows

Actor

James Fallows

Actor

Steven Ascher

Producer

Jeanne Jordan

Producer

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Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

As an exercise in sincerity, fellowship and earnest inquiry, it might be the most subversive movie in circulation right now.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 14, 2021

Full Review

Ben Kenigsberg

New York Times

As enjoyable as their writing can be, the filmmaking around them - aerial shots, time lapse photography, cuts to the couple looking engrossed - is less inspired than their project.

Apr 13, 2021

Full Review

John Anderson

Wall Street Journal

The most eloquent character in the film Our Towns is the camera; the star is the country it surveys, from community to community and coast to coast.

Apr 9, 2021

Full Review

Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

A good primer for what the reality is like in small towns across the nation in the face of all-consuming capitalism that is crushing us all.

Apr 21, 2024

Full Review

Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Willamette Week

The most useful takeaway from Our Towns is a psychological prophecy. The Fallowses note that although Americans are routinely intransigent when it comes to their national politics, they often believe their communities' outlooks to be different.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 30, 2021

Full Review

John Serba

Decider

Covers a lot of stuff in 97 minutes.

Apr 15, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

A panoramic yet intimate view of small towns across the United States, based on the bestselling book "Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America," by journalists James and Deborah Fallows.

Director: Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan
Executive Producer: James Fallows, Deborah Fallows, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
Screenwriter: James Fallows, Deborah Fallows, Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 13, 2021