Life Itself

Life Itself is a documentary about Roger Ebert, the American film critic and social commentator who wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times for decades. Drawing on his memoir of the same name, it traces his years as a restless young bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his long and often combative television partnership with Gene Siskel, his marriage to Chaz Ebert, and his public struggle with cancer. The film follows his career through to his death in 2013, and includes interviews with figures from criticism and filmmaking alongside Ebert himself.

Steve James directed, following Hoop Dreams, Prefontaine and Head Games in his filmography. James also produced with Garrett Basch and Zak Piper. The credited cast runs to thirty-seven people, with Roger Ebert and Chaz Ebert appearing as themselves, alongside filmmakers and critics such as Ramin Bahrani, Richard Corliss and Nancy De Los Santos; Stephen Stanton provides Ebert's voice.

Life Itself was released in July 2014 and runs 121 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.8 from around 17,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.5 from 375 votes. A film critics' rating of 8.4 from 203 reviews places it somewhat above those audience scores.