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Black Snake Moan
Paramount Vantage


8.0

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 42 votes
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FILM:

Hustle & Flow

MPAA RATING: R for strong sexual content, language, some violence and drug use

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson, John Cothran Jr., David Banner, Michael Raymond-James, and Adriane Lenox

Fate can be a twisted sister when it comes to rescue, and when it comes to love's torment, rescue can come in the pairing of the most disparate souls. Fate found that coupling in Lazarus (Jackson) and Rae (Ricci). (Paramount Vantage)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Craig Brewer
DIRECTED BY:	Craig Brewer
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 26, 2007 Theatrical: March 2, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	115 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

100

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

A gorgeous, life-affirming movie. On paper, it sounds lurid bordering on ridiculous.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

As a filmmaker, Brewer doesn't just yank your chain: He forges a bond with his characters and his audience that produces ecstasy and healing.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Ricci's performance is brave and effective - the most provocative in a career that has rejected Hollywood norms.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The story is as humorous and raunchy as a good blues refrain, and the way Lazarus and Rae react to each other almost resembles the classic call-and-response structure of the blues.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Perpetually wide-eyed and mega-snarly bedraggled, Christina Ricci prowls through Black Snake Moan looking like something the cat dragged in. If you're anything like me, you'll be very grateful to the cat.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Black Snake Moan' is a trip to that unfamiliar territory well worth tagging along on.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It's beautifully shot -- the sweat-drenched jukejoint scenes are particularly evocative -- and features a terrific performance by Ricci, one that deserves to be seen by a wider audience than the one certain to be reeled in by those torrid ads.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Like "Hustle & Flow," Moan succeeds on languid atmosphere and the conviction of its leads. But it'd be nice if the execution matched the startling audacity of its premise.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Brewer, who romanticized the world of pimps and ho's in "Hustle & Flow," is obviously out to push some politically incorrect buttons with this ludicrous - yet, in the end, sweetly involving - Southern Gothic pulp yarn.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I knew blues music can make you feel you're not alone when your woman has gone, and rock your soul when you're on top of the world. But until I saw Black Snake Moan, I didn't know it could also cure nymphomania.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A wild and sweet little picture about sex, redemption and music, though perhaps not necessarily in that order.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

It's outlandish, hilariously overripe, and possibly sexist: You'd expect no less from Craig Brewer, the writer and director who made the passionate case for how hard it is out there for a pimp. But I loved the picture's tabloid energy and heart.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

It's easy to work up a good head of feminist steam over the misogyny and downright idiocy of a story that suggests that the tyranny of a righteous man can prevent an abused girl from making poor and whorish fashion choices. But it's hard to dismiss completely this atmospheric and persistently intriguing film.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A roiling, boiling mix of blaxploitation, sexploitation, Tennessee Williams and the Tennessee outback.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

This movie is crazy, but the insanity is electric.

Empire Damon Wise

Sam Jackson delivers the electric blues in a not-so-blue movie that promises more Deep South sin than it actually delivers.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's hard to know what to make of the thing, though it has a sleazy charm, it's never boring and it goes a certain distance on Samuel L. Jackson's conviction.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The best thing about Black Snake Moan, a song title, is the blues soundtrack. The movie is an absurdly jarring collection of archetypal characters in miserable circumstances with a resolution that feels forced and tacked on.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Mix Brigitte Bardot in "And God Created Woman" with Carroll Baker in "Baby Doll," sex it up times 10 and you have a notion of the effect of Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan.

Village Voice Rob Nelson

Black Snake Moan sho-nuff ain't no "Sweetback." Indeed, long stretches of Brewer's Suthun-fried sophomore slump come down the country road lookin' as haggard as a workaholic ho on a Sunday morning.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This is one of those ludicrous, semi-offensive, semi-entertaining potboilers that feels as if the script were dragged out from someone's naughty-book stash.

Slate Dana Stevens

Black Snake Moan morphs into a wacky intergenerational bonding movie, something closer to "Harold and Maude" or "The Karate Kid" with a dusting of Southern grit.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Brewer knows how to guide his leads through this improbable story, and he kept me interested in spite of everything.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

In spite of Amelia Vincent's toothsome cinematography and the down-home locations, the movie often has the lumbering, literal-minded rhythms of a second-rate stage play -- not a moan or a howl, but a slow, anxious groan.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Be prepared to collapse into a hoot and a howl of hilarity at all the wrong moments.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The blues music in "Moan" is superfine, but my oh my, what to make of the ripe Southern cliches and this absurd story. The film is so jaw-dropping awful that it just might become a boxoffice hit.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Though Black Snake Moan is unadulterated deep-fried silliness from "Hustle & Flow" filmmaker Craig Brewer, Jackson makes it indisputably more palatable. It's still not a very good movie, but it's intermittently entertaining (and sometimes unintentionally funny).

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Parading through most of the movie in a cutoff T-shirt and bikini briefs, Ricci takes the stereotype of the oversexed farmer's daughter to gothic extremes; Jackson's character, named Lazarus, is similarly drawn with oversize strokes.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Black Snake Moan strikes me as hogwash. It fundamentally does not work; its consciously far-fetched, out-there notions of the things damaged people do in the name of love are reductive and go only so far. It's as if the premise were tethered to a radiator or something.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Offensive on multiple levels -- if only the plot had any levels at all -- Black Snake Moan leaves no "Tobacco Road" cliche unsmoked. Ricci gives it her all, and then some, but even her body and Jackson's blues can't heal a movie that rockets plum off its nut.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Black Snake Moan is, at its core, a fairly straightforward variation on George Bernard Shaw -- "Pigsfeetmalion," if you will. One day, when he outgrows his terminal adolescence, Brewer might be the perfect filmmaker to tackle Faulkner or Tennessee Williams.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

For all the preposterous clichés of the plot, which clanks as loudly as Laz's chain, and for all the inertness of Justin Timberlake's performance as Rae's brooding squeeze, Black Snake Moan finds unchained energy in its foolishness, and gives Mr. Jackson a chance to pluck a guitar and sing. He's really good at it, too. The music almost redeems the movie.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Maybe Jackson should avoid any more movies with "snake" in the title.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

At heart, "BSM" is no different from the midnight movies of the '60s and '70s that reveled in a head-spinning blend of blatant exploitation, provocative racial commentary and overwrought performances.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Melancholic Alcoholic gave it a9:
Okay, I have to admit prejudice: With Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci, not a lot could go wrong. Add a blistering soundtrack, Samuel L. Jackson on the blues guitar, singing AND playing himself, a suggestion of older man younger girl love affair, and Justin Timberlake really acting and this is a powerful film that deserves our sympathy. The surprise of a Justin Timberlake actually acting quite well, yes, it's a gimmick. But even after realizing that it IS a gimmick, it's still one that works. While the story is not that surprising, it's still good enough. All in all, a 9.

Walt S. gave it an8:
Proof that racism is still alive and well in America: Black Snake Moan earns a Metascore of a meager 52, while Rob Zombie's Halloween garners a 47. What a disgrace.

Mccoy W. gave it a9:
good movie,good acting It takes a pretty good movie to keep myself infront of the tv the entire show.watched from start to finish.

Erik H. gave it an8:
It's actually a much better film than I would have expected. SLJ has surprisingly honed skills at the blues. Ricci is good, but not great, as usual and JT is nothing special, but they play their characters convincingly enough to keep the viewer in the movie. Though it runs a little long near the end, I still would recommend seeing this movie.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Loved it. Great Style.

Jennifer gave it a9:
Loved this movie! What a great job done in building the unexpected relationship between Jackson and Ricci. I loved how some of the scenes in the movie ended as though you were watching a play. The film was as hot and sticky as a hot summer day in the south. Both characters fighting their own personal demons manage to find a small piece of stable ground to stand on in each other. Samuel L. not only manages to give another great acting performance but provides some great music as well. I think those who don't appreciate this movie are just used to the same old thing being put out over and over again and cannot see past the choices we have been forced to choose from here lately. See the movie. I doubt it will disappoint.

T P. gave it a10:
Loved it. Like others have commented - judging from the title and poster, wouldn't have guessed I would've liked this so much. But with an incredible soundtrack from some of my favorite Fat Possum recording artists* and really strong acting from several characters, this is on my top list for this year. *A great double feature would be the RL Burnside documentary "You See Me Laughin". Dig it.

Black Snake Moan Paramount Vantage

Black Snake Moan
Paramount Vantage