With exceptional performances from Hill, Phoenix, Mara, and Black, an inventive score from Elfman, spasmodically calculated direction by Van Sant, and an incredible true story, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot succeeds as a biopic.

Gus Van Sant's impressionism is just about enough to separate his film from a slew of other disability-based biopics.

Non-linearity is used to mirror the backsliding volatility of Callahan's recovery, but it's a gimmick that only feigns narrative unpredictability.

The result is always entertaining, at times life-enhancing.

Hill is good, finding a sincere wavelength for his role which doesn't push Donnie at us too mockingly: he's this film's equivalent of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.

Van Sant's film is fascinating for many reasons.

The film is disarming for its sincerity, unalloyed in its positive thinking but unafraid of showing the gruesome details of alcoholism and denial to back up its bromides.

It's hard to be tough on a film with a spirit as warm-hearted as this - like Callahan, it's trying hard even when it fails.

Callahan does the work and it's a powerful process. The meetings call out his excuses. Phoenix goes there in every stage of Callahan's self-destruction and redemption. It's a great portrait of accountability.

The movie falls short of deep insights, but its most prominent qualities - scrappy, ephemeral, a little bit lewd - mirror the chief attributes of Callahan's endearing work.

A perfect Joaquin Phoenix role in a straightforward biopic of a fascinating guy. One of Gus Van Sant's best.

Phoenix tends to get lost in his parts, which can lead him (along with his films) astray. But when his high-wire emotional arc suits the movie, there are few who can touch him.

A shaggy, but solid return to form by Gus Van Sant. Jonah Hill steals the show.

Don't Worry isn't some tearfully inspirational tribute to Callahan's triumph over his disability. It's a tearfully inspirational tribute to his triumph over alcoholism.

You can see Van Sant's admiration of Callahan in every frame. There's just so much that he wants to share about Callahan that he can't bear to let anything go.