The Playlist by Drew Taylor

The specificity of the documentary, staying within the walls of the boot camp for virtually the entire movie, is one of its biggest strengths since it is able to place you right alongside these kids.

Village Voice by Katherine Vu

The slow (albeit unevenly paced) unveiling of the boys' stories is persuasive and chilling.

New York Daily News by David Hinckley

China has classified Internet addiction as a clinical disorder, calling it the single most dangerous threat to the health and well-being of Chinese teenagers. That’s a tough superlative to achieve, considering the levels of air and water pollution in China.

Slant Magazine by Steve Macfarlane

Without a frame of footage nor a single interview presented from outside the camp, the documentary shows a capitalist nightmare that accords its victims zero wiggle room.

Hitfix

Web Junkie is a little sad, a little funny and a little scary. I'd say that I wish it had been a little more provocative.

Hitfix by Daniel Fienberg

Web Junkie is a little sad, a little funny and a little scary. I'd say that I wish it had been a little more provocative.

Variety by Dennis Harvey

With filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia granted extraordinary access to one facility, they make for a bizarre and entertaining documentary.

The Hollywood Reporter by Duane Byrge

Filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia probe this phenomenon, jarring viewers with an inside look at one of these “reform” centers, as well as shedding light on the mindset of these Internet “addicts.”

New York Post by Farran Smith Nehme

Brief and timely, this documentary directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia is also frustrating.

The Dissolve by Scott Tobias

Shlam and Medalia haven’t constructed the film particularly artfully—it’s sluggishly paced, and the two boys at its center aren’t vividly drawn—but Web Junkie is a case where the access is so unexpected and revelatory that it’s a wonder just to have the footage.

Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf

Barreling toward its rapidly modernizing future, China takes Internet addiction more seriously than most nations: To watch Web Junkie, an often scary yet half-realized documentary, is to see a society trapped in its old solutions.

The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo

It’s clear that these kids have a genuine problem, and a more probing film might have questioned the cultural factors that contribute to it, as well as the efficacy of more or less kidnapping errant youths and trying to coerce them back into productivity. Web Junkie doesn’t do much probing, however.