Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

csgollum America is a huge country and would take years to cover, even if one were to only spend a day in each major city or town. I'm sure there are people who have travelled nomad-style throughout the length and breadth of the country, but I am yet to hear of anybody who has done that and documented his/her experiences for others to watch. Fry does cover a few places which are renowned for some particular reason, but as he repeats in a few episodes, what he is after is the "heart" of the city or state, not the parts that have been popularised by Hollywood. This could mean a particular geographical or man-made landmark, food, occupation, or a native who has made it big.As one reviewer puts it, the series covers "voodoo in New Orleans, witchcraft in Massachusetts, and homelessness in St. Louis", all quirks or shortcomings. But that is exactly how people around the world picture these places. For example, India is still portrayed in Europe and the West in general as a land of cow worshippers, snake charmers, and spicy curry. But Stephen Fry covers not just these well known spots but also less well known places and he does it in his trademark witty bantering style.Finally, to me, a bookworm who has only read about and seen America in movies and TV shows, this series is a fascinating peek into the country, which in a short period of time (when compared to countries like India, home to ancient civilizations) has achieved so much.

jordanhorse-942-224930 I was looking forward to this series however, it wasn't funny, wasn't informative and when he did show the wonderful side of our states he followed it up with a mocking slant. Really, he couldn't find anything good about Florida besides the Everglades? He totally focused on the city of Miami. Nothing about its ethnic diversity , nothing about its history. Nothing about the largest coral reef in America. He goes to Alabama and can only find the Prison and parole system the only thing that might interest people. Or the college football team? Really? Oh, wait, let's talk about the hunters in NY or the body farm? Is that really America? This is the worst documentary on America I have ever seen. No wonder people hate us. Don't come back! Or if you do don't look so hard to find subjects that demean us.

randomjetship Imagine a tour through Great Britain focusing on chavs, gypsies, and soccer hooligans and you more or less get the sense of how this series approaches the United States. The English have a weird fascination with the extremities of American culture. This brand of voyeurism is, I suspect, born from post-imperial insecurities, and the wry pretension Fry oozes during his tour though the 50 states fits squarely into that mold. Fry begins by telling us that he was very nearly born an American, and that the goal of his journey is to better understand the life he might have had. Instead, we see a man trying desperately to convince himself that he was lucky to be born an Englishman. That would explain the pejorative slant that marks his dismissive plodding through urban blight, gawking at rural squalor, and dilettantish dabbling in local trades and customs. Focusing on the downside of a subject isn't bad on its own, but Fry does so without any motivating theme to justify it. The result is a snide, mean-spirited little series that does not offer any particularly useful insights into the places Fry visits.Another deep inadequacy comes from the superficial treatment Fry gives the places he visits and people who show him hospitality. In many of the states he supposedly visits we never see evidence that he ever leaves his quaint London-style cab. His pass through Delaware, for instance, exhibits all the depth that state received in Wayne's World ("Hi... we're in Delaware"). Yes, the goal of visiting all 50 states necessarily means that each one gets limited treatment, but some don't even get a perfunctory effort, and when states do get considerable screen time they are defined by their quirks or their shortcomings—voodoo in New Orleans, witchcraft in Massachusetts, and homelessness in St. Louis, for example.In the end, the show does not succeed on the terms Fry himself sets for it, and it offers the audience very little else.

mark_g_1 I love Stephen fry anyway but seeing him trecking around America in his black cab and the peoples reactions to him (a well spoken dapper English gentleman) is funny and magical to watch, he does travel across all of the 50 states of America, its nice to see how beautiful America really is. He meets all kinds of people who have strange but interesting jobs as well as giving a small history lesson about each state delivered as only Stephen fry can, he also meets some celebrities too on his journey, Sting and Morgan Freeman to name a couple, my only complaint is that they could have made more it feels like he hasn't had enough time to show off all off the states and the cities within them he visits but still 10/10 :)