Critic Reviews
| 83 |
Entertainment Weekly Tim Stack
The script can become a tad preachy and heavy-handed at times (particularly O'Donnell's final voice-over), but there are enough emotionally honest moments to make America soar. |
| 70 |
Hollywood Reporter Ray Richmond
Her script, co-written with Emmy-nominated veteran scribe Joyce Eliason, pushes all of the proper buttons in making its symbolic points, while Yves Simoneau's direction is steady and strong. |
| 70 |
Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray
America, which begins and ends with a heavy-handed voiceover by O'Donnell, begs to be compared to those issues-oriented morality plays. But those of us old enough to remember them [after-school specials] should also be old enough to acknowledge that they weren't all bad. |
| 70 |
Variety Brian Lowry
Director Yves Simoneau, O'Donnell and veteran TV movie scribe Joyce Eliason deal sensitively with the issues of abuse, but the story feels rushed in places. |
| 70 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
The atmosphere of America is, like America himself, ponderous and weighty, and it successfully manages to evoke the pall of this one foster kid's personal hell. |
| 67 |
Newsday Verne Gay
America is dark, grim and downbeat, but it also wants to grab you by the heart and insist that America's plight is, in fact, the country's plight. This film's reach, however, exceeds its grasp. |
| 40 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
It's preachy and predictable, with a script so stiff the actors also never get a real chance to loosen up. |
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