Movie Review: ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’ Outstanding Documentary

In the 1980s, Bill Cosby was perhaps the most beloved man in America. And yet for two decades before that, and many years after, he was a sexual predator, according to dozens of women. Did he give us sly signals about what he was up to along the way?

We Need to Talk About Cosby, an outstanding four-hour documentary that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last month and is now airing in four parts on Showtime, concludes that he did. Filmmaker and comedian W. Kamau Bell has assembled a chilling indictment of Cosby’s horrific acts that nevertheless fully acknowledges Cosby’s gigantic talent, the scope of his contributions to society, and his outsized cultural footprint. Bell is himself black, and that matters. I’m not sure a white filmmaker would have dared broach some of the topics Bell and his cast of commentators and witnesses discuss toward the end of the film.

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Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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In the 1980s, Bill Cosby was perhaps the most beloved man in America. And yet for two decades before that, and many years after, he was a sexual predator, according to dozens of women. Did he give us sly signals about what he was up to along the way?

We Need to Talk About Cosby, an outstanding four-hour documentary that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last month and is now airing in four parts on Showtime, concludes that he did. Filmmaker and comedian W. Kamau Bell has assembled a chilling indictment of Cosby’s horrific acts that nevertheless fully acknowledges Cosby’s gigantic talent, the scope of his contributions to society, and his outsized cultural footprint. Bell is himself black, and that matters. I’m not sure a white filmmaker would have dared broach some of the topics Bell and his cast of commentators and witnesses discuss toward the end of the film.