Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

David Simon, creator of "The Wire," who argues that the targeting of minorities, fused with mandatory sentencing, has turned the war on drugs into ''a holocaust in slow motion.''

San Francisco Chronicle by G. Allen Johnson

Jarecki takes a highly original approach to create a compelling, thought-provoking look at a highly relevant and controversial topic.

New Orleans Times-Picayune by Mike Scott

The House I Live In is not a comfortable film to consider in any respect, but without discomfort it's hard to feel anger - and without anger, it's hard to imagine that anything will ever be done about it.

Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan

This film could serve as a potent tool for those trying to change 40 years of public policy.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Jarecki's film makes a shattering case against the War on Drugs.

Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman

I've heard that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. By that standard, the U.S. "War on Drugs" seems crazy indeed in The House I Live In.

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

A personal work not because the director chooses to make himself a part of the story, but rather because he implicates all of us in it.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

The result is a movie that jumps all over the place, but with the ultimate intention of showing how the public's attitudes and assumptions about drugs have changed over the past half-century, guided by politicians and businessmen with a stake in misinformation.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

It's easy to take issue with a documentary like The House I Live In, which tackles too much in too brief a time and glosses over complexities, yet this is also a model of the ambitious, vitalizing activist work that exists to stir the sleeping to wake.

Wall Street Journal by John Anderson

The scope of the subject is such that when Mr. Jarecki's voiceover cuts into the narrative, imposing a personal angle on the national story, it reduces the sense of significance its creator aimed for. But that's a fairly backhanded endorsement of a very potent movie.

The Playlist by Kevin Jagernauth

While it's messily put together, with a sprawling and at times unfocused narrative that often gets in the way of itself, it doesn't deny the power of the facts Jarecki brings to bear on a misguided program that hasn't stopped the demand for drugs, that has disenfranchised the poor and minorities, and created an expensive prison industry.

Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker

The mixture of different techniques and varied views results in a rich, multi-faceted look at one of America's most misguided policy initiatives.

Village Voice by Melissa Anderson

What's riveting and attention grabbing in Jarecki's recapitulations of failed policy are some of the talking heads he has assembled, including "The Wire" creator David Simon and historian Richard Lawrence Miller.

Variety

A ballsy mix of interviews and editorializing that's daring enough to question a costly crackdown that has long had the public's support.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

As is, the film is more likely to impress the choir than change many minds.

Time Out by David Fear

Whenever the film focuses more on Jarecki's hand-wringing than deconstructing the war itself, you wish someone would have looked the filmmaker in the eye and just said no.