Amy (2015)
92%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: 5 wins & 27 nominations
As riveting as it is sad, Amy is a powerfully honest look at the twisted relationship between art and celebrity — and the lethal spiral of addiction.
If you’re looking for a documentary that will make you feel all the feels, Amy is the one for you. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, from the highs of Amy Winehouse’s incredible talent to the lows of her tragic downfall. But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom – there are plenty of moments that will make you smile and nod your head along to her iconic tunes. Just make sure you have some tissues on hand, because this one is a tearjerker.
Production Company(ies)
Otto Preminger Films,
Distributor
A24
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Plattduetsche Home – 1150 Hempstead Turnpike, Franklin Square, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use
Year of Release
2015
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital SDDS Datasat
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:2h 8m
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Language(s):English, Mandarin
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 3, 2015 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 10, 2015
Genre(s)
Documentary/Biography
Keyword(s)
starring Amy Winehouse, directed by Asif Kapadia, written by Asif Kapadia, genre: documentary, biography, music, box office performance: $8.4M, budget: unknown, reviewed by Liza Dadoly, Candice Frederick, Max Weiss, Wesley Morris, Namrata Joshi, Peter Rainer, Don Shanahan, Matt Brunson, Michael J Casey, Leonie Cooper, Joanne Laurier, Leo Brady, MPAA rating: R, produced by James Gay-Rees, featuring Tony Bennett, Pete Doherty, Salaam Remi, Nick Shymansky, Blake Fielder-Civil, Mitch Winehouse
Worldwide gross: $140,795,793
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $175,750,933
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 768
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 19,165,860
US/Canada gross: $110,212,700
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $137,575,026
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 555
US/Canada opening weekend: $30,097,040
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $37,569,183
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 345
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $35,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $43,689,392
Production budget ranking: 884
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $23,526,738
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $108,534,803
ROI to date (est.): 161%
ROI ranking: 732
Pete Doherty – Self
Salaam Remi – Self
Nick Shymansky – Self
Blake Fielder-Civil – Self
Mitch Winehouse – Self
Director(s)
Asif Kapadia
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
James Gay-Rees
Film Festivals
Cannes
Awards & Nominations
5 wins & 27 nominations
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Documentary Feature Winners, Oscar Winners
All Critics (226) | Top Critics (64) | Fresh (215) | Rotten (11)
Overall, Amy is a stunning, beautiful, and deeply personal, if somewhat voyeuristic, portrait of one of the greatest artists of a generation.
February 3, 2021
Liza Dadoly
Bitch Media
TOP CRITIC
Guys, after watching the 128-minute film, I can honestly say that I have never seen a documentary that has turned me off so much as this one has.
September 1, 2017 | Rating: D
Candice Frederick
Reel Talk Online
TOP CRITIC
Kapadia’s documentary — which uses home video, archival footage, and clips of concerts and old and new interviews — feels a bit like a horror film, except the inescapable monster is fame.
June 10, 2016 | Rating: 4/4
Max Weiss
Baltimore Magazine
TOP CRITIC
There are a couple of scenes in Asif Kapadia’s new Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, that make the fame-industrial complex seem rock-bottom awful.
July 17, 2015
Wesley Morris
Grantland
TOP CRITIC
[Kapadia] leaves you with is an incredible feeling of sadness, irrespective of whether you knew and liked her music or not.
July 17, 2015 | Rating: 3/4
Namrata Joshi
Outlook
TOP CRITIC
A powerful, and powerfully sad, experience.
July 10, 2015 | Rating: B+
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor
TOP CRITIC
Accessing an enormous wealth of old videos from friends and family, self-read letters of lyrics and songwriting, archived phone calls, backstage footage, media appearances, and unreleased performances, “Amy” weaves a masterful and compelling narrative.
June 26, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Don Shanahan
Every Movie Has a Lesson
One of the central tragedies dissected in Amy is that Winehouse loved two vile, reprehensible men — her father and her husband — to such a degree that she allowed them to continually use her and abuse her.
September 18, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Kapadia refuses to glamorize Winehouse’s addiction as a casualty of rock ‘n’ roll or just another entry into the “27 Club.”
September 11, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Michael J. Casey
Michael J. Cinema
Amy Winehouse’s rapid rise and tragic fall is exquisitely told by her peers and with rare footage.
April 23, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Leonie Cooper
NME
The film effectively captures some of the ghastliness of the modern celebrity racket.
February 26, 2021
Joanne Laurier
World Socialist Web Site
Amy is done with respectful and informal excellence. If it succeeds at anything, and it succeeds at many things, it’s that it shows that Winehouse deserved better treatment from everyone.
January 31, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/4
Leo Brady
AMovieGuy.com…
Plot
Despite having a love/hate relationship with her scoundrel of a father Gordon Townsend, the one thing Amy Townsend has grown up believing from him is that monogamy isn’t realistic, he and Amy’s mom who broke up due to infidelity when Amy was young. As such, she gets drunk and stoned frequently in her pursuit of indiscriminate sex, with an unstated rule that there is no sleeping over once the sex is over. Her current “boyfriend”, Steven, believes they are exclusive, not knowing that she sleeps with other men. Working at sensationalistic magazine S’nuff under head sensationalist Dianna, Amy is in line for a promotion, she certain to get it if her next story meets Dianna’s scrutiny. That story is a profile of sports doctor to the stars, Dr. Aaron Conners, it despite Amy knowing nothing about sports. To Amy’s amazement, Aaron wants to date her following their first sexual encounter, his sexual history in terms of quantity which is in extreme contrast to her own. Also to her amazement, she kind of wants to date him, the entire ritual of being the one person in another person’s life a foreign concept to her. The road to a happy ending for the two is not guaranteed as their very different sexual histories and very different perspectives on sexual life may make them incompatible despite truly liking each other as people. Ensuring that his man Aaron is happy and doesn’t get hurt in the process is someone who seems to take Aaron’s personal life even more to heart than he does: LeBron James.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The documentary features personal testimonials from friends and family of Amy Winehouse, including Tony Bennett, Pete Doherty, and Salaam Remi.
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