61
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Though it's marred by an overly melodramatic and dubious finale, The Idolmaker is an unusally compelling film about the music business in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It shows how teen idols were created, promoted, and discarded by entrepreneurs cynically manipulating the adolescent audience. Ray Sharkey is superb in the title role.
- 80Film ThreatBrad LaidmanFilm ThreatBrad LaidmanWho thought that New Kids On the Block would turn out to be the most influential group of the ’90s? Anyone who was paying attention to history, of course. That’s why The Idolmaker is so fascinating. Based on the guy who gave us Fabian and Frankie, it understands the inevitable pattern that repeats itself time and time again.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt is a well-crafted movie that works, that entertains, and that pulls us through its pretty standard material with the magnetism of the Ray Sharkey performance.
- THE IDOLMAKER takes itself too seriously, but is nonetheless one of the best and most energetic film treatments of the early days of rock 'n' roll and a fine depiction of how performers are groomed for stardom (far superior to THE ROSE).
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinThe Idolmaker is a modest, interesting, well-acted movie, more lively than it is exciting.
- 70NewsweekJack KrollNewsweekJack KrollThe Idolmaker would be worth seeing if only for its modesty, which is a blessing in these days of ersatz epics. It's a small, honest, decently entertaining film with one outstanding performance. [08 Dec 1980, p.107]
- 63USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkDirector Taylor Hackford is so enthusiastic reminiscing on an alternate soundtrack that he almost convinces you that this diminutive cult movie is better than it is. [27 Dec 1996]
- 60The DissolveNoel MurrayThe DissolveNoel MurrayThe movie’s two main aims—to blow the lid off the music business and to exalt some of the unsung heroes of American pop culture—are somewhat contradictory, and haven’t been worked into a polished narrative.
- 60Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasTaylor Hackford's 1980 debut feature The Idolmaker, inspired by the life of Bob Marcucci, discoverer and promoter of Fabian and others, has some gritty, satirical commentary on the pop music scene of decades past but is hampered by an ending that seems self-dramatizing fantasy made real. Ray Sharkey, however, is impressive in the title role. [11 Aug 1991, p.6]