What are the critics saying about Mapplethorpe?

Not fantastic things, to be honest. The movie has only a 38% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has received some negative reviews from critics.

“Deeply by the book, the photographer is treated as though he was any other 20th-century figure. What a disservice,” Awards Circuit noted.

Added Observer: “You go away feeling soiled and confused, disliking and distrusting him more than you did going in.”

However, the New York Post praised Smith’s performance as the photographer. “There are two things that make the flawed Mapplethorpe worth a watch: Matt Smith’s dedicated performance, and a reverent inclusion of so much of the artist’s work,” they wrote.

The use of Mapplethorpe’s real pictures was also considered the film’s strong point by the New York Times: “[It is] most alive when it’s putting its subject’s pictures on the screen, which it does often. And should have done more, because the movie is otherwise as timid as its subject was bold.”

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