Sadly, what could have proved to be an enlightening and substantive documentary... is instead a poor man's regurgitation of newsreels and magazine glossies fueling a filmmaker's ego.

| Nov 26, 2019

[It's directed by] an unknown amateur named Whitney Sudler-Smith who looks a bit like Julian Assange and seems almost surprised to be making a film at all.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 17, 2015

The film is poorly structured, and most of Sudler-Smith's conclusions are trite.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 17, 2015

It becomes clear throughout the movie that you don't have to be a fanboy or fashionista to appreciate the story of such a smart, flawed, fabulous man.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 17, 2015

I want to believe that Whitney Sudler-Smith, the director and camera-hogging "presenter" of Ultrasuede: In Search Of Halston, is some kind of Bruno-like parody of a fashion victim. He's too gloriously, self- importantly inept to be real, surely?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 17, 2015

Halston's name is in the title, but the faintly irritating Ultrasuede isn't necessarily about the fashion designer. It's about director Whitney Sudler-Smith

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 9, 2012

In sartorial terms, the fabric is to die for, but helmer Whitney Sudler-Smith's docu follows a banal pattern, while the finishing lacks finesse.

Full Review | Feb 23, 2012

A self-indulgent pilgrimage to the shrine of '70s fabulousness, "Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston" assembles a fine assortment of archival material but falls far short of its stated goal.

| Feb 9, 2012

Sudler-Smith spends so much time documenting Sudler-Smith trying to ineptly document this story that one immediately begins to wonder if it's all some sort of strange joke.

| Original Score: F | Jan 24, 2012

The tension between the amateurish interviewer and the star interviewees gives the doc a layer of authenticity that its otherwise formulaic structure and storytelling fail to find.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 21, 2012

It's unfortunate that director Whitney Sudler-Smith seems to have spent more time on his own hair than his interview prep.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 20, 2012

Lost in all this is Halston, who comes through only in dribs and drabs. If you're curious about him, skip this film.

| Jan 19, 2012

A dishwater-dull film about an electric subject

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jan 19, 2012

This isn't simply the biography of an American icon, but the chronicle of a misguided filmmaker.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 19, 2012

At least Smith has proof that he spent ample time with the beautiful people.

| Original Score: C- | Jan 19, 2012

This film has a grander trajectory than just about any other fashion doc.

| Original Score: A- | Jan 18, 2012

A ghastly vanity affair for one Whitney Smith, the son of a socialite who, despite minimal credits to his name, feels entitled to make Halston's story his own.

| Jan 17, 2012

Abandon hope, all ye who expect insight into what made this game-changing gent tick...

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jan 17, 2012

All the ingredients are here for another juicy fashion insider film, but this Halston portrait is diminished by a clueless fame whore determined to wedge himself into the story.

| Jan 13, 2012

Less a portrait of its ostensible subject than that of his times, and the film suffers from yet another examination of the disco era.

| Jan 13, 2012