Gary Dretzka: The Hunting of the President can stand alone both as a cautionary political thriller and as an indictment of the media pawns who allowed themselves to be played like a fiddle, first by a handful of anti-Clinton good ol’ boys with too much time on their hands and, then, by a cabal of rich and powerful right-wing thugs. The President, of course, didn’t do himself any favors by succumbing to his basest instincts with a chubby intern in the anteroom of the Oval Office, or, for that, matter lying about it to his wife and constituency.

Pride, Unprejudiced: To paraphrase my Uncle Shortie, this embarrassing junk would be the black sheep at the Turd family reunion

Newsday: One can argue against a lot of what the movie purports to prove, but the Susan McDougal case is like something out of a Robert Stone novel about a banana republic - the kind of thing, like much of "Hunting of the President," most Americans think couldn't happen here.

The Hollywood Reporter: The potent subject matter of this documentary adapted from the best-selling book by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons is unfortunately undercut by its tabloid-style execution.

There can be no doubt that we live in one of the most tumultuous political climates of the nation's history, a climate where politicians can be toppled on a whim, election results disputed in the country's highest courts, and governors unceremoniously recalled. It's enough to leave even the most cynical voter asking, how did this happen?

Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry's incendiary documentary, based on the best-selling book by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason, offers a glimpse at the genesis of these partisan vendettas and explores the myths and truths behind the nearly 10-year campaign to systematically destroy the political legacy of the Clintons.

Using previously unreleased materials, interviews, and shocking revelations from both sides of the beltway, this probing work focuses on the smear campaign against Clinton from his gubernatorial days in Arkansas leading up to and including his impeachment trial. Kenneth Starr fans, beware.

Less of an advocacy film and more of an alarming treatise on the political power of the media and personal interests, The Hunting of the President offers us a gallery of defeated politicians, disappointed office seekers, right-wing pamphleteers, wealthy eccentrics, zany private detectives, religious fanatics, and die-hard segregationists, all chiming in discord from the tops of their soapboxes. — Elizabeth Richardson and Joseph Beyer