On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 6.91/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood offers plenty of prurient thrills for film fans, but beyond the gossip lies a poignantly illuminating look at decades of sexual mores."[5]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]
In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy commented: "What could have been a merely sensationalistic exposé of the private lives of then-closeted screen luminaries instead emerges, in the hands of documentarian Matt Tyrnauer as a nicely filled-out look at different eras, one secrecy-ridden and dedicated to the preservation of illusion, the other wide open and blasé about personal predilections."[7]
Film adaptation
In July 2020, it was announced Searchlight Pictures had acquired the rights to the documentary and was developing a feature film based on Bowers' life. Luca Guadagnino was hired to direct, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg writing the script.[8]
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