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Merchants of Doubt
A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.
11 October 1959, Savannah, Georgia, USA
November 05, 2015
Kenner's sympathies are clear - "Don't let them stack the deck!" the film proclaims - and ultimately Merchants of Doubt does a much better job of making you think than convincing you of what to think.
May 13, 2015
The movie is at its best when profiling the titular merchants.
May 30, 2015
Director Robert Kenner delivers this rote but stirring documentary about the fake experts and pseudo-scientists that are employed by corporations to spread doubt in the media about scientific facts.
December 18, 2015
Using a magician's tricks as a metaphor for corporate tactics is clever, and Kenner's found an eloquent talking head in history of science prof Naomi Oreskes, but as in his previous flick, Food, Inc., he keeps hammering away at the same idea.
June 08, 2015
As a political propaganda film about the dangers of political propaganda, it's difficult to imagine Merchants of Doubt having any effect beyond the cold comfort it might bring the choir.
March 27, 2015
You leave "Merchants of Doubt," as you do any good muckraking documentary, both fascinated and enraged ...
November 12, 2015
Based on the 2010 book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, the film lays out a convincing, follow-the-money trail from the tobacco industry's postwar efforts to prevent (or forestall) government regulation to a profitable lobbying specialty today.
April 09, 2015
A movie about manufactured consensus would be a vital public service. But "Merchants of Doubt" isn't quite that movie.
March 26, 2015
Merchants of Doubt shouldn't be a hard sell. The fact that it is should make you very mad.
March 19, 2015
Subtle, it's not. But it is effective.
April 02, 2015
A compelling exposé of professional propagandists, though the movie itself is not agenda-free.
April 03, 2015
Aside from an eye-opening investigation of useless and harmful flame repellents pumped into furniture, it sticks to climate change without broadening its scope to other examples of corporate spinning, which must be plentiful.
