Nuts! (2016)
93%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Nuts! lives up to its title in the best way, offering a delightfully unorthodox look at a bizarre — and largely unexplored — chapter in American history.
If you’re looking for a documentary that’s equal parts informative and hilarious, then Nuts! is the film for you. Director Penny Lane takes a wild and wacky approach to telling the story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley Jr., a man who claimed to cure impotence with goat glands. With creative animation, archival footage, and recordings, Lane brings Brinkley’s outrageous story to life. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good story about neediness, greed, delusion, and gullibility? So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride with Nuts!
Production Company(ies)
Production company
Distributor
MTuckman Media
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Year of Release
2016
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:NA
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Runtime:1h 19m
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Language(s):
-
Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 22, 2016 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 6, 2016
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
Nuts!, Documentary, Gene Tognacci, Andy Boswell, John Causby, Kelly Mizell, Jeffrey Pillars, Thom Stylinski, directed by Penny Lane, written by Thom Stylinski, produced by James Belfer, Caitlin Mae Burke, Penny Lane, Daniel Shepard, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Max Weiss, Steve Davis, Tom Long, Evan Kindley, Randy Cordova, Andrea Gronvall, C.J Prince, Michael J Casey, Adam Patterson, Stephen Saito, Kathy Fennessy, MPAA rating, Dr John Romulus Brinkley, goat-testicle impotence cure, million-watt radio station, American history, unorthodox, bizarre, eccentric genius, documentary approach, creative animation, archival footage, recordings, outrageous story, neediness, greed, delusion, gullibility
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Andy Boswell – Voice
John Causby – Voice
Kelly Mizell – Voice
Jeffrey Pillars – Voice
Thom Stylinski – Voice
Director(s)
Penny Lane
Writer(s)
Thom Stylinski
Producer(s)
James Belfer, Caitlin Mae Burke, Penny Lane, Daniel Shepard
Film Festivals
Sundance
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (51) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (3)
Lane’s loose, playful, collage-like treatment of the story sets just the right tone.
December 29, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4
Max Weiss
Baltimore Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Director Lane and screenwriter Thom Stylinski take a lighthearted, folksy approach to telling Brinkley’s life story
September 1, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/5
Steve Davis
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Lane uses creative animation, archival footage and recordings – the good doctor apparently loved to be filmed – to tell an absolutely outrageous story of neediness, greed, delusion and gullibility.
July 29, 2016 | Rating: B+
Tom Long
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
It’s a daring formal gamble on Lane’s part, but it doesn’t completely work.
July 25, 2016
Evan Kindley
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
It’s flat-out exciting; really, how many documentaries can you say that about?
July 21, 2016 | Rating: 4.5/5
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic
TOP CRITIC
I can’t imagine anyone believing that goat glands transplanted into human reproductive organs could cure impotence, but as this lively, offbeat documentary proves, plenty of Americans did.
July 14, 2016
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Lane takes advantage of non-fiction for petty and selfish reasons, which makes Lane not too far removed from her own subject.
May 22, 2019
C.J. Prince
Way Too Indie
Dr. John Romulus Brinkley Jr. had trouble with the truth.
May 11, 2019
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
A surprising, strange, delightful film that’s more than its strange premise would have you believe.
May 2, 2019 | Rating: 8/10
Adam Patterson
Film Pulse
Simply a good time, rollicking as it revels in one Brinkley exploit after another.
November 8, 2018
Stephen Saito
Moveable Fest
In a different director’s hands, this film might be a tragedy about the Depression-era consumers who fell for Brinkley’s schemes, but for the most part, it’s a quirky comedy
August 18, 2017
Kathy Fennessy
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
Nuts! is such a fascinatingly goofy tale, with peekaboo plot elements popping out from every angle, that a straightforward documentary approach could never do it justice.
December 27, 2016
Kelly Vance
East Bay Express…
Plot
Nuts! is a documentary about Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, who built an empire with his goat-testicle impotence cure and a million-watt radio station.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Narrator Gene Tognacci lends his voice to the documentary Nuts!
Penny-Lane.jpg
