40
While Atwater exerted notable influence on contemporary politics, this account of his career doesn't make for particularly absorbing viewing.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Generous in spirit and nimble in technique, this riveting documentary about the Republican operative (who died of a brain tumor in 1991) reveals a scrappy genius rife with contradictions.
25
A documentary that uses against Atwater images of lynch mobs, decades-old racist comments of his onetime boss Strom Thurmond, and a clip of Bryant Gumbel calling him "the architect of the evil campaign."
83
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
If you want to hear juicy inside tales of the scams devised by Lee Atwater, the right-wing visionary of media-age dirty tricks, you'll find loads of them in Boogie Man.
75
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
Director Stefan Forbes interviews a slew of victims and beneficiaries of the Atwater attack machine and, in the process, gives us an even-handed portrait of a man who, as much as anybody, bears responsibility for the toxicity of high stakes political campaigning on both sides of the aisle.
60
Deeply influential, even to his enemies, Atwater's career is viewed here with fascination and some sympathy.