''You Cannot Kill David Arquette'' is a 2020 American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film, directed by

David Darg David Darg is an American director and cinematographer. In 2011 he co-founded the media company RYOT with Bryn Mooser. He received critical praise for his documentary ''Body Team 12'' which garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best D ...

and Price James. It follows

David Arquette David Arquette (; born September 8, 1971) is an American actor, producer, and retired professional wrestler. Arquette's breakout came with his starring role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film '' Scream'' (1996), a role which he later reprised i ...

attempting to return to wrestling after his acting career stalls. It was released on August 21, 2020, by Super LTD.

Synopsis

attempts a return to wrestling, which stalled his acting career.

Cast

Patricia Arquette Patricia Arquette (; born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987) and has since received several awards, including an Academy Award, two P ...

Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film '' The Executioner's Song'' (1982) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for th ...

* Richmond Arquette *

Courteney Cox Courteney Bass Cox (born June 15, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She rose to international prominence by playing Monica Geller in the NBC sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004) and Gale Weathers in the horror film franchise '' Scream'' ...

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years. He is ...

Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and author. He is signed to WWE, under a Legends contract while also serving as an ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including the W ...

Eric Bischoff Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Booker, professional wrestling booker, promoter, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Sen ...

Peter Avalon Peter Hernandez (born June 14, 1989), better known by the ring name "Pretty" Peter Avalon, is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is also known for his appearances in Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and ...

Diamond Dallas Page } Dallas Page (born Page Joseph Falkinburg Jr., April 5, 1956), is an American fitness instructor, actor, and retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract, under the ring name Di ...

Production

In December 2019, it was announced

and Price James had directed a documentary film following

, over the course of two years, with

, Richmond Arquette,

, and

set to appear in the film.

Release

The film was scheduled to have its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on March 20, 2020. The festival was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Shortly after, Super LTD acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released to drive-in theatres on August 21, 2020, and via digital platforms and on-demand on August 28.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

the film has an approval rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "''You Cannot Kill David Arquette'' -- nor can you deny the sheer watchability of this unusual and surprisingly affecting documentary."

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

gave a positive review for ''Variety'' and complimented how the film handles the merger between

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...

in professional wrestling and reality: "At the end of ''You Cannot Kill David Arquette'', we’re drawn into a wrestling narrative that the documentary wants you to believe, even as it stands on the outside looking in. Is Arquette a has-been actor trumping up his biggest failure so that he can exploit it? Or is he a lionhearted wrestler who finds triumph by going the distance? The weird thing is that there’s no difference." For ''Film Pulse'', Adam Patterson gave a generally positive review, but pondered if Arquette could be well received by the audience as an

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or wikt:top dog, top dog. In the case where an under ...

: "This ..may be a hard pill to swallow for some, considering he has had a seemingly successful career, lives in a beautiful home and has a family who cares for him deeply."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 11454066 2020 films 2020 documentary films American sports documentary films Documentary films about sportspeople Documentary films about actors Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Professional wrestling documentary films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films