ATL

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What I liked most was its unforced, genuine affection for its characters.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

An emotionally charged coming-of-age saga that will make you laugh and cry, maybe at the same time.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Buoyed by a superlative soundtrack, ATL plays a familiar song about growing up, but hits notes that sound brand new.

Village Voice Peter L'Official

It's entertainment with ambition, but I can't front though; the soundtrack is pretty fly too.

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.

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.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Unlike so many movies directed at teens, ATL is not interested in exploiting its audience.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Robinson makes these characters breathe, and they bring the film to life.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Several good ideas for a movie rumble around inside ATL, but they never coalesce.

Variety Justin Chang

Higher on stylistic dazzle than originality or coherence.

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.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Ultimately, ATL is the same old teenager angst in a mildly novel package.

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.

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.