Salinger

PG-13

Released Sep 6, 2013

2 hr. 9 min.

Documentary

List

37%

86 Reviews

Tomatometer

52%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Filmmaker Shane Salerno examines the life of famously reclusive writer J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye."

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Critics Consensus

A so-so documentary about a fascinating personality, Salinger has moments of insight but is too often bogged down by reenactments and a lack of attention to the man's actual writings.

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Audience Member

I felt like I had to sift through trite descriptions and stock footage to really get anything salvageable from the two hour long disarray of a documentary. It quickly became redundant and instead of offering anything new, or tangible insight, simply delved into pure conjecture for the entire latter half of the film.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I've watched Salinger twice, and I really enjoyed it both times. The time spent on WWII and how it shaped Salinger's life was very impactful and well done. I'm a bit befuddled by the lukewarm reviews to this. It is a given that Salinger is reclusive and never would have consented to any kind of project about him. With that said, I think the filmmakers did a terrific job capturing who this guy really was. To those who didn't like it, I would ask, What else could this film have covered?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

2/3 of the documentary on reclusive author J.D. Salinger is engaging and fascinating learning about how J.D. grew to become a writer, join the army and his early failures in love. However, the latter third of the film drifts into tabloidish filmmaking with overdramatic music, silly editing tricks and unnecessary graphics that appear to be something out of TruTV or our modern-day "news" outlets, not an actual documentary.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

It was interesting. One of those does what it says on the tin kind of docs

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Audience Member

For a documentary that has at its disposal one of the most intriguing and mysterious figures in modern day history, it's a mighty shame that Salinger comes off so amateurish and lame, despite an ability to remain watchable thanks to its undeniably juicy content. This juicy content is so full of untapped goodness though, that in the end Salinger can be seen as a missed opportunity to truly get to the bottom of Salinger the writer once and for all. Filmed by screenwriter wunderkind Shane Salerno who has given us such screen gems as Armageddon and Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, the feeling of Salinger is all over the place with quite shoddy re-enactments and some questionable stock footage making up a large part of proceedings, it's clear that Salerno struggled to put all the right eggs in the quite large basket. For a film that runs nigh on 2 plus hours, by the films end you still get a niggling feeling that some details where skimmed over or other details played out to long and the things we do find out make us less likely to appreciate J.D Salinger as a person. I (as many others are) am a big fan of Salinger's work on Catcher in the Rye and while there are some interesting aspects and info shed about the book you can't help but feel a slight sense of sadness knowing that the man who wrote this novel was such a basket case of a human being. Parts of the documentary focusing on Salinger's personal life and preference for much younger women than he is, paints him as a preying type of male and his treatment towards his family and encounters with fans again displays him as a quite nasty human being. Whenever these aspects of the film take centre stage it makes it mighty hard to care for the story and the story works best when the focus is on Salinger's early life in the army and his return to normality afterwards. Other aspects of the film such as a horrid score and some random talking heads who have no real right being there again detract from a bizarre tale. Finishing off with some revelations and giving an insight to the man who wrote one of the most loved books of all time makes Salinger a passable film but one that can easily be written off as a misfire and with years spent on its construction it's hard to imagine how such a mundane effort was produced as the final product. For die-hard fans only, the rest of us would be well advised to read the man's famous novel once more. 2 and a half New Yorker rejection letters out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It could be I'm rather partial to Salinger, but I absolutely love this documentary.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

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Shane Salerno

Director

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Actor

Ed Norton

Actor

John Cusack

Actor

Martin Sheen

Actor

Tom Wolfe

Actor

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Ed Bark

Uncle Barky

Salinger triumphs, though, as an absorbing portrait of a singular man of mystery.

Rated: A

Jan 28, 2014

Full Review

Neal Justin

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Too bad that Salinger offers no real insight into the elusive writer and is fueled almost entirely by trivial anecdotes.

Jan 21, 2014

Full Review

Wesley Morris

Grantland

The movie has a shallow, paparazzo literalism. It just wants to catch the legendarily reclusive Salinger getting into a Jeep.

Jan 6, 2014

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Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Despite its shortcomings, Salinger is not only interesting, but enlightening for those unfamiliar with this voice of a generation.

Nov 27, 2019

Full Review

Tara Judah

Overland

Beyond its disturbing aspersions cast on mental illness, the film tells a story that is inherently flawed by the absence of its own key player.

Jan 30, 2019

Full Review

Josh Terry

Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

In total, Salinger might be an excellent documentary to watch if you want to know more about author J.D. Salinger, but the only way to truly know him may be to assume that everything he wrote was autobiography.

Nov 29, 2017

Full Review

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Synopsis

Filmmaker Shane Salerno examines the life of famously reclusive writer J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye."

Director: Shane Salerno
Screenwriter: Shane Salerno
Distributor: Weinstein Co.
Production Co: The Story Factory
Rating: PG-13 (Smoking|Disturbing War Images|Thematic Elements)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 6, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 5, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $575.8K

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