Do they go about it in exploitative ways? Are such things mutually exclusive? Feuerzeig leaves those answers to the audience. It creates an unsettling but always-fascinating film.

| Apr 13, 2021

This story is so trippy it could use some clarity.

| Jun 9, 2020

Author leaves it up to the viewer to decide for themselves whether Albert is a troubled soul or something more nefarious, but either way this is a fascinating character study and a one-of-a-kind documentary.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 21, 2019

The film looks at the nature of identity on many levels but even so Feuerzeig's unravelling of Albert's story ultimately seems a little overlong.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 20, 2019

A highly compelling collage of stylish archival footage and recorded phone conversations that flesh out this notorious Catfish-like caper of the literary world.

| Nov 28, 2018

I'm still in shock, and I'm guessing those that befriended JT LeRoy are still, too.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 1, 2018

Deeper questions about Albert's style and artistic identity are left underexplored, strange considering the film's abrupt title. Maybe there are just too many personalities in disorder for one feature film to handle.

| Aug 22, 2018

It's content to gawk at the mess Albert made of her life and claim it's a profound statement about fame and identity.

| Feb 14, 2018

The film touches on the line between poetic license and deceit, as well as the glittering promise of reinvention and fame.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 20, 2017

... the film's lack of a critical, considered perspective on the madness, some persuasive idea of [Laura] Albert and her coup, leaves the viewer feeling had.

| Sep 11, 2017

Author: The JT LeRoy Story pulled a real reaction out of me, by means both honest and inauthentic.

| Sep 7, 2017

. . .as happens too often when the director is also the writer, Author: The JT LeRoy Story runs too long, at least by 15 to 25 minutes.

| Aug 29, 2017

The documentary is, among many things, a test of trust and sympathy.

| Aug 21, 2017

Call it a massive literary hoax or twisted identity theft. Or just call it art. Either way, Author: The JT LeRoy Story will fascinate and at the same time cause much frustrated head-scratching.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 29, 2017

interesting but ultimately inessential

| Mar 21, 2017

Feuerzeig trade access for accountability, allowing Albert ... to produce a storyline that fosters her own self-belief. The ethics are questionable, and the deeper issues, such as literary authenticity and cultural exploitation, are barely acknowledged.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 27, 2017

Author: The JT LeRoy Story couldn't arrive at a better time.

| Jan 3, 2017

On the whole, it succeeds for the questions it asks, not the ones it cheaply answers.

| Jan 2, 2017

The result is so far-fetchedly entertaining it feels like a fantasist's fevered imaginings. Which, in a way, it is.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2017

Author: The JT LeRoy Story is a testament to the magic of art and how it can make a fantasy feel achingly real.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 30, 2016