| The Truth vs. Alex Jones | |
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 Official poster | |
| Directed by | Dan Reed |
| Produced by |
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| Edited by |
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| Music by | David Schweitzer |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | HBO |
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Running time | 121 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Truth vs. Alex Jones is a 2024 Americandocumentary film, directed and produced byDan Reed. It follows families of victims of theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting, taking radio show host and conspiracy theoristAlex Jones to court forspreading lies about the shooting.
It had its world premiere atSouth by Southwest on March 11, 2024, and was released on March 26, 2024, byHBO. The film won aPeabody Award[2] at the 85th Annual Ceremony.
Families of victims from theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting takeInfoWars radio hostAlex Jones to court for spreading conspiracies and lies.[3]
Dan Reed received exclusive access to the courtroom of the trial of Alex Jones, after the judge permitted cameras and microphones.[4] Reed attempted to interview Jones for the film, who declined. However, Jones would turn to the cameras and wink or smile, which Reed found strange.[5]
It had its world premiere atSouth by Southwest on March 11, 2024.[6] It was released onHBO andMax on March 26, 2024.[7]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,100% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10.[8]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]
The Daily Telegraph's Anita Singh wrote, "What the families' lawyers – and this documentary – did so effectively was to show that Jones believes none of this and is simply out for financial gain. He knows that putting out garbage on his channel... brings online traffic and a resulting uptick in sales for the vitamin supplements he flogs", and gave the film 4/5 stars.[10] Lucy Mangan ofThe Guardian also gave it 4/5 stars, writing, "The madness of it, and the knowledge that Jones's rants are giving a certain rabid demographic exactly what they want, the dizzying sense of unreality and the multiplying questions as you watch – about how and why any of this canpossibly be – fries your circuits even at this remove of time and space."[11]
Brian Tallerico ofRogerEbert.com gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, writing: "Sharply edited, sensitively constructed, and expertly crafted. It's a reminder of how to tell this story well in a documentary film instead of dragging it out for the common docuseries trend."[12] Fletcher Peters ofThe Daily Beast called it "A scathing portrait of Jones and the vile misinformation he spread about the Sandy Hook tragedy."[13]The New Zealand Herald's Jen Shieff gave it 5 out of 5 stars, saying, "Director Dan Reed also madeLeaving Neverland (2019), aboutMichael Jackson. In both documentaries he’s unflinching, here selecting footage of Alex Jones spitting his invective about the deep state on Texas-based media platform Infowars, owned by his company Free Speech Systems."[14]
Other documentaries that also featured Alex Jones: