Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Ali
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 36 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 22 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Gregory Allen Howard (story)
Stephen J. Rivele
Christopher Wilkinson
Eric Roth and Michael Mann
Directed by: Michael Mann
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 25, 2001
DVD: April 30, 2002
Running Time: 158 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for some language and brief violence
Starring Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Michele, and Giancarlo Esposito
Will Smith and director/writer Michael Mann take you into the heart and life of the boxer, the legend and, more importantly, the man. (Columbia Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Collateral Heat Manhunter Miami Vice Public Enemies The Insider
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Ali is a bruiser, unwieldy in length and ambition. But Mann and Smith deliver this powerhouse with the urgency of a champ's left hook.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
It's one of the most ambitious biographical films ever made in this country, and one of the most unusual, moving and exciting.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
A thoughtful epic is both a rarity and an oxymoron. But that's what Ali is, and you can't help being drawn sympathetically into its hero's struggle for mastery of himself and his era.
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Ali boasts a whole tribe of outstanding secondary performances, of which Jon Voight's Cosell, in an outrageous rug and several tons of pasty-face makeup, is easily the funniest.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Ali becomes less the story of a boxer than the story of one man hanging onto his soul. With so many wrong ways to dramatize that process, Mann's approach seems all the more right.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Michael Mann is a fluent, evocative filmmaker, and the movie is well written, expertly staged, and beautifully edited. [24 & 31 Dec 2001, p. 126]
The New York Times A.O. Scott
We see the movie levitate when Ali and Brown chant, "Float like a butterfly," the slogan that takes on a different meaning in each context, starting off as hopeful and spry, finally becoming rueful and pointed. When the film pulls off moments like these, it's breathtaking -- a near great movie.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Ali, in short, is far from a seamless success, but it does get the big things right and it respects a subject who commands respect.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
It's not Smith's fault that the movie can't quite pry apart the man from the myth from the metaphor. The three may well be inseparable by now and, at this point in his history and ours, that's surely the way we prefer it.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Could there possibly be a worse time for a movie celebrating a draft-evader who embraces Islam? You wouldn't think so.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
What keeps the movie from championship status is a sense that the filmmakers see Ali's social and political contributions as extra added attractions, ultimately less important than his greatness in the ring.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
Connects so often and so persuasively that its shortcomings -- the movie goes slack from time to time -- really don't amount to much.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Overlong, entertaining, sense-assaulting drama.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
For everything it gets right, Ali, following its superb first hour, begins to lose the vision, clarity, and structure necessary to bring its hero into full focus.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Manages to entertain, even though it stays on the surface. It fails to deliver the hoped-for knockout, but also avoids the pitfall of an early-round collapse. While not attaining the greatness of its subject, it rises to a level somewhere above mediocrity.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
While Smith gets into Ali's head and under his skin, the movie around him has more footwork than punch.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
I respect it enormously, but it feels like an art film in search of a movie.
Variety Todd McCarthy
Just about everything Mann has chosen to present is valid, substantial and convincing, but by the end, the feeling persists that while certain essences have been grasped, only part of the story has been told.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Filled with vivid cameos and set to an infectious soul beat that effectively covers the underlying hum of calculated precision.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Whatever the reason, the energy and hold-onto-your-seat excitement that Muhammad Ali brought to the sports world is oddly absent from this quite accomplished but finally distant film.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
For all Smith's dedication and Mann's abilities, Ali remains a figure too big for even the big screen to contain.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Mann's film is beautiful to watch. Cinematogrpaher Emmanuel Lubezki employs a washed-out, harshly lit style that makes everything look vaguely menacing and hyper-real, which is complemented by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke's Africanized score.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Perhaps no movie could do Muhammad Ali justice. But this overlong but sketchy biopic by Michael Mann, in which style repeatedly tramples substance, actually does the great man a disservice.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Ali is no disgrace, but it's not much of a performer, especially considering that it is one of the few hyped year-end releases that coulda been a contender.
New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
Muhammad Ali's spirit, his life force, is not quite present here, despite Smith's astonishing mimicry and Mann's considerable perspiration.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
What's lacking here is a sustained thematic focus -- at least five people worked on the script, including Mann, which may account for the absence of a clear through line -- though the spectacle and characters keep one absorbed.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
For a movie, Michael Mann's Ali is great radio. It's almost better to squint, so that you see the film in soft focus, just fury and motion and blurred faces; meanwhile, with your ears cranked open wide, everybody sounds much more like they should than looks like they should.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
It's a brilliant impersonation; Smith gets Ali's speech patterns and Louisville accent exactly right, and astonishingly convincing facial prosthetics complete the transformation. But he never quite finds the man under the enormous image; those quintessential Mann moments, during which Ali is left alone to brood, feel surprisingly blank.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Dequina
Well-acted and skillfully made, the film offers enough that is worth seeing, but its idiosyncratic nature is sure to limit its mainstream appeal.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Watching Ali, you can be sure of experiencing two opposing things: a sterling performance from Will Smith as Muhammad Ali and a bewilderingly punch-drunk movie from Michael Mann.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Ultimately, Ali is a far more complex creature than this movie allows for.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A long, flat, curiously muted film about the heavyweight champion. It lacks much of the flash, fire and humor of Muhammad Ali and is shot more in the tone of a eulogy than a celebration. There is little joy here.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Ali nails its subject's anger and courage, but not his lilt; his swaggering boasts but not his sly self-irony; his power but not his grace; and his inner turmoil but not the outward joyousness that has made us come to love him.
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
It was against all odds that Michael Mann ("The Insider") would make a boring movie focusing on the most eventful decade in the life of the most dynamic athlete in history. But that's what he has achieved with Ali.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Weve seen Ali as the charismatic star of the real-time drama of his life. Ali, for all its flashy filmmaking, just doesnt compare.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
Will Smith flies like a butterfly, but what director Michael Mann does to the greatest fighter of all time just stings.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 22 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
doctor parker gave it an8:
Breathtakingly incomperable african scenes, astonishing portrayal by will smith - who establishes himself as the ultimate character chameleon - and nearly seemless continuity combine for a masterful, though tepid in places, visual story, that is a treat for all lucky enough to view it.
El Limite gave it a 10:
Best movie ever made.
CharlieMACK Fresh gave it a 10:
Ali is one of the best movies...
Jack D. gave it an 8:
Muddled and sketchy, but often breathtaking... a bit of a letdown but worth seeing.
Jeff M. gave it a 6:
It might have worked had this been about a fictional boxer, but is it the best they could do with someone as interesting and charismatic as Ali? If Mann could make the true story of the evil of Big Tobacco so riveting, how did he manage to drop the ball on this bountiful subject matter? All signs point towards what would had to have been an uninspiring script...
Seth B. gave it a 4:
Here's what happened: Michael Mann completely destroyed this movie! Smith's Oscar nomination was well deserved just for being able to survive all the directorial missteps, which exist in almost every scene. You have the most exiting boxer of all time in Ali, but then make this oozing snail of a movie about his career. All the good reveiws you see are doing one thing: trying to save Michael Mann's career from the biggest mistake made by a decent director in the past decade!
Ben D. gave it a 4:
Well acted, but the story is unengaging and it wanders aimlessly - a worthy effort that is ultimately a blemish on Smith and Mann's careers. Shame.
