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The film had its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019.[4][5] It was released on May 1, 2019, by Netflix[6] and received acclaim from critics.
Synopsis
The film follows four female Democrats who decided to run for Congress in the 2018 United States elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia. The film charts their campaigns in their respective Democratic primaries. The four candidates each run grassroots campaigns against long-time incumbents.[7] Vilela, Bush, and Swearengin lost their primary elections, but Ocasio-Cortez won her primary and went on to win the general election. (However, two years later, during the next Congressional election cycle, Bush went on to win her primary and the general election in Missouri's 1st congressional district, and Swearengin was the Democratic nominee for West Virginia's Senate race, where she lost to the incumbent by over 40 points. Four years later, Bush also lost renomination.)
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating from critics of 99% based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A galvanizing glimpse behind the scenes of a pivotal election, Knock Down the House should prove engrossing for viewers of all political persuasions."[21] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[22]
Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a grade of B, saying, "Stylistically, the film isn't at all fussy: on-screen graphics are straightforward and informative, and Lears leaves the editorializing out of her introductory captions, though the film's score often proves manipulative during the most unnecessary of times."[23] Amy Nicholson of Variety wrote, "That Lears and co-writer Robin Blotnick made a real movie with intelligent camerawork and storytelling on a budget so small that they each pulled double duty as DP and editor, respectively, is a tribute to the energy of every woman who pledged that in 2018 they would make a difference."[24] Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a pretty extraordinary cinematic artifact."[25] Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying, "While this is not Frederick Wiseman-esque pure 'direct cinema' there are enough sequences that lean into that fly-on-the-wall type of film-making."[26] Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and described it as "a worthwhile reminder for American citizens of the importance of making one's voice heard."[27]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, wrote, "The fighting spirit of this female quartet blazes through every frame of this galvanizing film."[28]Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, calling it "stirring and inspirational".[29]
