Critic Reviews
| 80 |
Variety
Sheri Linden
The top-notch cast never hits a false note.
|
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times
This is a film that stays with you long after the lights have gone up.
|
| 80 |
LA Weekly
Performances that are natural yet weighted with history and frequently heart-wrenching.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
The movie doesn't crank up the volume with violence and jailhouse cliches, but focuses on this person and his possibilities for change.
|
| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
A spare and moving study of regret and redemption, marked with chilling truths about a life behind bars.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
The actors seem exhilarated.
|
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
This very earnestly American prison gives off an unusually mellow European air.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Shows so much intelligence and compassion that its tendency sometimes to overreach or underdramatize can surely be forgiven.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Marred by sappy fantasy sequences and a sentimental finale that's out of step with most of the rest of the movie.
|
| 60 |
Washington Post
Teresa Wiltz
In its quiet way, The Visit is a testament to the tenacity of the family, particularly the African American family.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
The film's touches of unconventional style interfere with its emotional effectiveness at times.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
Mark Holcomb
The last scenes contain so many moral and spiritual turnarounds that Alex (Harper) -- and the film -- are all but buried in the uplift. Harper, in a fierce, nuanced performance, deserves better.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
The very strong performances in this low-budget film deserve a better narrative structure to strut their stuff.
|
| 48 |
Mr. Showbiz
Sentenced its audience to a maudlin death.
|
| 40 |
TV Guide
The result is so overloaded with extra characters, tangled story lines, dance numbers, fantasies and flashbacks that the once-simple plot feels puffed-up and irritatingly self-important.
|
| 40 |
Washington Post
Unfortunately, the actors seem overqualified for their parts, delivering earnest monologues that come across as clumsy transplants from the proscenium stage.
|
|
