Decider by Lea Palmieri

Dancing with the Devil is raw and heartbreaking and challenging to watch — which makes it all the more imperative that people do hear Lovato’s harrowing story. ... This is not a fun, poppy documentary, and it’s also not four episodes of hot goss. There’s a calming quality to the fact that the backgrounds of these interviews feature water or fountains or palm trees, while the clothes seem to pop with light, bright colors, as the concern in everyone’s voices will keep you watching.

Consequence by Jenn Adams

While gut wrenching and potentially triggering, Dancing With the Devil is brutally honest and admirably resists putting a rosy filter on a life-or-death issue.

The Guardian by Alim Kheraj

Ratner builds up the complex layers of what led to that situation, and then peels them back sensitively. This even pace means that revelations aren’t sensationalised: the significant impact that the overdose had on Lovato’s health, including the permanent brain damage, are laid out clearly by the singer’s physicians.

The Daily Beast by Kevin Fallon

The reason the series will resonate is because of how candid she is about the complexities of addiction, the bumpy road of recovery, the pressures to be a poster child for sobriety, and the effects an episode like the one she experienced has on those in a person’s life. It’s perhaps corny but valid to venture that it could even save people’s lives.

Entertainment Weekly by Kristen Baldwin

Bracingly honest. ... Dancing raises a host of thorny, complex issues — too many for its brief runtime of four 22-minute episodes.

Variety by Daniel D'Addario

Lovato shares information in a torrent. It’s a welcome shift away from the enforced silences around stars like Britney Spears, to be sure, but also a challenging and emotionally demanding viewing experience, one that lacks the time or space that would allow certain key revelations to land.

IndieWire by Ann Donahue

“Dancing with the Devil” needs to let Lovato’s story breathe, expand, and settle. The singer has obviously done a tremendous amount of work to get to a place where she can be so forthright, and the cause and the effect of this bravery can’t be summarized in less than two hours.

The Hollywood Reporter by Inkoo Kang

Dancing With the Devil is brutally honest even by its subject’s standards. ... Frustratingly, all this honesty is sometimes undermined aesthetically by production choices.

The Playlist by Robert Daniels

While she demonstrates courage to share the hardest portions of her life, the massive hurdles associated with drugs, her arduous physical recovery, and her own soul searching — the documentary’s staging also feels especially shallow. From the gauche title card showing the cloaked singer looking over a foggy mountain to the cheerleading interviews with friends and family, we don’t get the sense that the singer’s veneer has fallen. Rather it’s been reshaped and retooled for the moment.