''Confessions of a Superhero'' is a 2007 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Matthew Ogens Matthew Ogens is an American film director, creative director, photographer and artist, best known for his 2021 Netflix documentary short film, ''Audible'', which was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 94th Academy Awards. He ...

about costumed

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

. The film focuses in particular on Christopher Dennis, Jennifer Wenger, Joseph McQueen, and Maxwell Allen, who dress as

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

, the

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

, and

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, respectively. The film tells the life story of its four main subjects, all aspiring actors who have very different backgrounds. Dennis grew up in Los Angeles as an orphan, but claims to be the son of Oscar and Tony winning actress

Sandy Dennis Sandra Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966), she rec ...

, though Sandy Dennis's family denies that she had any children. Wenger was a small-town cheerleader before moving to Hollywood to become an actress. McQueen moved to Los Angeles during the

Rodney King riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

and was homeless for four years before becoming the Hulk, and achieves the most success of any of the subjects in the film, winning a small role in

Justin Lin Justin Lin (, born October 11, 1971) is a Taiwanese Americans, Taiwanese-American film director. His films have grossed US$2.3 billion worldwide as of March 2017. He is best known for his directorial work on ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002), the ...

's ''

Finishing the Game ''Finishing the Game'' is a 2007 mockumentary film directed by Justin Lin focusing on Bruce Lee's final movie ''Game of Death'' (1972), which was unfinished at the time of his death. Shot in 18 days,''Finishing the Game'' comically satirizes the ...

''. Allen claims to be a former mobster with a murderous past, though his wife casts doubts on his stories in the film.

Reception

The film was well received by critics, and was an official selection at the 2007

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

film festival, and an official selection at the

AFI fest The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fun ...

. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

surveyed and, categorizing the reviews as positive or negative, assessed all eleven as positive for a 100 percent rating. Among the reviews, it determined an average rating of 7.70 out of 10.

References

External links

* * * 2007 films Documentary films about actors 2007 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about comics American superhero films Films directed by Matthew Ogens 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{arts-documentary-film-stub