Director Rachel Lears began to work on the film that became Knock Down the House the day after Donald J. Trump won the office of the President of the United States. The film follows four Democratic candidates: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, Amy Vilela from Nevada, Cori Bush from Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin from West Virginia as they campaign for different seats. The film takes a look behind-the-scenes at these four young women's campaigns -- how they run them, their policies, their competition, and just about anything and everything under the sun.
Although Knock Down the House was almost universally praised by critics, it received middling reviews from the general public. Alastair McKay of London Evening Standard loved the film, writing that "In the end, Lears finds the hope that she is looking for. It's hard to resist a candidate who is so fresh, so new, so perfectly now." Richard Roeper also loved the film, calling it "stirring and inspirational." Helen Brown of The Telegraph, however, thought differently, writing that "The relentlessly one-sided emotional manipulation is grating." She did, however, award the film 3 out of 5 stars.
