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
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
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
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
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
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The![]()
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The![]()
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
ATL
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures Inc.

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 32 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama
Written by:
Tina Gordon Chism
Antwone Fisher (story)
Directed by: Chris Robinson
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 31, 2006
DVD: July 18, 2006
Running Time: 105 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for drug content, language, sexual material and some violence
Starring Tip Harris, Lauren London, Antwan Andre Patton, Mykelti Williamson, Keith David, Albert Daniels, Jackie Long, and Evan Ross Naess
Loosely based on the childhoods of Dallas Austin and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, TLC tells the story of a close knit group of working-class teens in Atlanta whose lives revolve around hip-hop music and roller skating.
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: T.I.: King
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...
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Despite a third-act tendency to gather a few spare genre clichés as it rolls along (Guns! Drugs! Angry siblings!), Robinson's film is a cut above the rest.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Robinson has assembled an impressive young cast comprised primarily of rappers (such as Tip Harris, a.k.a. T.I.) and fresh faces (newcomer Lauren London).
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Fresh and unexpected. It feels like a real window on the lives of disenfranchised youths - these are in South Atlanta - as they make their way in a society that doesn't cut them any breaks.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The film mostly avoids easy laughs or simplistic characters, reminding you how few black movies claim the huge middle ground between chardonnay-sipping buppies and hardened criminals.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The story is familiar, but terrific performances and a vivid sense of place elevate it above the average teen-oriented picture.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
What I liked most was its unforced, genuine affection for its characters.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
An emotionally charged coming-of-age saga that will make you laugh and cry, maybe at the same time.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Buoyed by a superlative soundtrack, ATL plays a familiar song about growing up, but hits notes that sound brand new.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Peter L'Official
It's entertainment with ambition, but I can't front though; the soundtrack is pretty fly too.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Teresa Wiltz
Notwithstanding the melodrama and the often ham-handed directing, ATL somehow works. A large part of this is thanks to Robinson's skill in evoking the hickory-smoked flavor of the ATL.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The more rink time, the better: As directed by hip-hop music-video king Chris Robinson from a story by "Antwone Fisher's" Antwone Fisher, the skate scenes are a blast.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Unlike so many movies directed at teens, ATL is not interested in exploiting its audience.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Robinson makes these characters breathe, and they bring the film to life.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Working from a story by Antwone Fisher, screenwriter Tina Gordon Chism is tender toward characters balancing where they come from with where they'd like to go. Fisher was the subject of an inspirational biography by Denzel Washington.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe James Parker
Is ATL even a hip-hop movie? There's hip-hop in it, certainly, but unlike the recent vehicles for Eminem and 50 Cent -- respectively, ''8 Mile" and ''Get Rich or Die Tryin' " -- it does not have a rapper hero.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt
If "Roll Bounce" and "Boyz n the Hood" fell in love and had a PG-13 baby, it would be ATL.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Neil Genzlinger
The fun here is in seeing a new batch of rappers try acting, and some of them turn out to be eminently watchable.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Tim Grierson
What starts out as a lively reconsidering of the thug-life mentality ends up having as much depth as, well, one of Robinson's videos.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Stina Chyn
House definitely put a smile on an insider's face, but outsiders can enjoy the ATL too. The only prerequisite here is the ability to laugh.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Several good ideas for a movie rumble around inside ATL, but they never coalesce.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Ultimately, the film could stand to be more inconsequential, because whenever anything happens to move the story along, it immediately loses its laid-back Southern charm.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Ultimately, ATL is the same old teenager angst in a mildly novel package.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The movie's first half hour is a barrage of lazy narrative pointers--endless expository voice-over, freeze frames and captions to identify the numerous characters--and by the time screenwriter Tina Gordon Chism decides to write an extended scene, the story is already dead in the water.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Director Chris Robinson moves his camera aimlessly, cutting in and out of speeches as if he were just as bored as I.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ciaira gave it a10:
I love this movie...I Love T.i. so thats half the point!! but this movie is about aloota stuff but it all make sense in a way tho.but my favorite part is when uncle george is yelling at ant cus he's all like "boy you ain't get no cutty last night...whitcho scrony ass" hahah cracks me up everytime i see it.
BEN T. gave it a10:
I think this is a postive movie. It did not show blacks as poor trashy things that hollywood loves to eat up. ATL reflected the live of blacks that are trying to better themselves. You will have good and bad in a community and they looked at it light heartly. I think it was a cute movie that did not get good advertisment or credit.
Martin S. gave it a6:
Nothing new or enlightening. There seems to be a recurring themes in these comming of age movies. Apparently the skating rink is the place to be. I must have missed out on that part of childhood.
Jenay M. gave it a9:
Well the movie overall was up beat and captivating!!I enjoyed it all the way though except for the ending! maybe im a bit too inquizzitive buy i just like to know more and to digg deeper into people's lives but they could have told a little bit more. But like i said over all it was a great summer flick-teen movie!!!!
Al C. gave it a9:
I enjoyed this movie a lot. Im surprised when I hear people say "wow, these rappers can really act!", when in fact the majority of mainstream actors are acting 24/7. Anyway, fun movie.
Will C. gave it a4:
ATL has decent acting and whatnot, but god was it boring. Their really wasnt much of a plot or anything interesting at all. It's really not worth your time.
stas gave it a3:
This movie barely carries any value. Simply pointless drama.
