Forks Over Knives
Reception
Reception
---------

The film premiere took place on May 2, 2011 at the SilverScreen Theater at the [Pacific Design Center](/wiki/Pacific_Design_Center "Pacific Design Center") in West Hollywood. Actor [Angela Bassett](/wiki/Angela_Bassett "Angela Bassett") attended the premiere.

On [Rotten Tomatoes](/wiki/Rotten_Tomatoes "Rotten Tomatoes") the film has an approval rating of 59% based on reviews from 37 critics and 79% audience rating. On [Metacritic](/wiki/Metacritic "Metacritic"), the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

[Roger Ebert](/wiki/Roger_Ebert "Roger Ebert") of the *[Chicago Sun\-Times](/wiki/Chicago_Sun-Times "Chicago Sun-Times")* gave the film three out of four stars and wrote: "here is a film that could save your life." He commented that "*Forks Over Knives* is not subtle. It plays as if it had been made for doctors to see in medical school." Loren King of *[The Boston Globe](/wiki/The_Boston_Globe "The Boston Globe")* gave it three out of four stars and remarked that "what *[An Inconvenient Truth](/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth "An Inconvenient Truth")* did for global warming, Lee Fulkerson's persuasive documentary does for a [vegan](/wiki/Veganism "Veganism") diet". [Carrie Rickey](/wiki/Carrie_Rickey "Carrie Rickey") of *[The Philadelphia Inquirer](/wiki/The_Philadelphia_Inquirer "The Philadelphia Inquirer")* gave the film three out of four stars and described it as "an earnest and fact\-filled work of food evangelism." Jeannette Catsoulis of the *[New York Times](/wiki/The_New_York_Times "The New York Times")* described it as making "a pedantic yet persuasive case for banishing meat and dairy from the dinner table," while also being a "trudge through statistics, graphs and grainy film of cholesterol bubbles and arterial plaque."

Sean O'Connell of *[The Washington Post](/wiki/The_Washington_Post "The Washington Post")* gave the film two out of four stars and argued that it is "an interesting and informative health lecture that's sandwiched into a dry, repetitive documentary" and said that "it's desperately in need of charisma, humor or personality to balance the steady stream of scientific facts we're asked to absorb".[*Forks over Knives* review](https://web.archive.org/web/20110211221428/http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/forks-over-knives,1169641/critic-review.html), *The Washington Post*. May 13, 2011\. [Rex Reed](/wiki/Rex_Reed "Rex Reed") of *[The New York Observer](/wiki/The_New_York_Observer "The New York Observer")* gave the film 2/4, criticizing its "funereal" tone and writing, "the movie says nothing we don't already know, and 96 minutes is too long to tell us how sick we are." Corey Hall of the *[Metro Times](/wiki/Metro_Times "Metro Times")* gave the film a "C" and stated that "while it's impossible to dispute the basic premise that eating more vegetables is good for you, Forks adopts a staunch anti\-meat and \-dairy stance that leaves the door open for criticism."

Producer Brian Wendel told journalist [Avery Yale Kamila](/wiki/Avery_Yale_Kamila "Avery Yale Kamila") of the *[Portland Press Herald](/wiki/Portland_Press_Herald "Portland Press Herald")* that "it's been very hard to get publicity. It's happened several times at very large publications who said, 'We're sorry, we can't (run a story about the film) because of our advertisers." Kamila reported that "Despite the trouble the filmmakers encountered with some mainstream media outlets, the film has generated significant buzz in the social media sphere."

The film was awarded the Documentary/Special Interest Title of the Year in 2012 by the [Entertainment Merchants Association](/wiki/Entertainment_Merchants_Association "Entertainment Merchants Association")."[EMA Recognizes Indie Films and TV Series](http://www.homemediamagazine.com/product-news/ema-recognizes-indie-films-and-tv-series-27601)," [2012 Entertainment Merchants Association’s Independent Home Entertainment Award](/wiki/Entertainment_Merchants_Association "Entertainment Merchants Association"), June 2012\.


Who attended the premiere of the film?