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Liberty Heights

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Barry Levinson
Directed by: Barry Levinson
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 17, 1999
DVD: June 19, 2000
Running Time: 127 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for crude language and sex-related material
Starring Adrien Brody, Ben Foster, Bebe Neuwirth, Joe Mantegna, and Orlando Jones
In this third installment of Barry Levinson's Baltimore trilogy, the youngest son of a middle-class Jewish family pushes the accepted social boundaries of the day by dressing as Hitler for Halloween and pursuing a romantic friendship with a black classmate, as his brother pursues a girl from the other side of the tracks, and his father maintains a numbers racket.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: An Everlasting Piece Bandits Diner Disclosure Envy Man of the Year Rain Man Sleepers Sphere Wag the Dog
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...
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Levinson is so skillful at developing personalities, even among the story's would-be villains, that by the halfway point of the movie, every gesture and expression has unexpected depth and texture. The performances are across-the-board superb.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Barry Levinson goes deep with Liberty Heights, and the result is a grand slam.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A mature, accomplished piece of work, both funny and deeply felt, personal cinema of the best kind...Levinson has made the memory film we always hoped he would.
Read Full Review >Film.com Tom Keogh
Levinson is at the top of his game with Liberty Heights, his instincts acutely cinematic, his purpose clear.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
Seems to encompass all the humor, sadness and weirdness of ordinary life in an utterly winning, morally acute way.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Demonstrates what writer-director Levinson does best: evoke the sights, smells and atmosphere of his youth with intelligence, humor and a keen sense of social perspective.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Emerges as an accurate memory of that time when the American melting pot, splendid as a theory, became a reality.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
A uniquely personal, vibrant mosaic of the American dream, and like a dream, it evaporates beautifully before our eyes.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Buoyant with quiet smiles and unpretentious fondness.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer
A disarmingly funny, clear-eyed, and affectionate memory piece.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Minus much of the rose-tinted nostalgia his films have occasionally engendered. There is a nostalgic tone to the film, but it's a quiet, subtle one.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Both a lovingly crafted remembrance of things past and a deliberate broadening and darkening of the canvas Levinson previously filled in "Diner," "Tin Men," and "Avalon."
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
Has integrity, but the way he bends his tale to make a statement is overly deliberate.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
As good as the film is in so many ways, it also altogether rings a bit false and contrived.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Marc Caro
Few mainstream films portray the religiousness or ethnicity of characters with such detail, warmth and humor as Liberty Heights.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
This is a small, intimate movie bound to get lost in the holiday shuffle, but its pleasures are worth seeking out.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Just a good time at the movies, but it's still a smarter two hours than most "good times" are.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Filmed in a quietly impressionistic style and splendidly acted by a well-chosen cast, the movie would be a top-of-the-line entertainment if its delicately balanced perspective weren't marred by a few moments of racially insensitive excess.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Levinson brings it all back home to Baltimore and delivers his funniest and most heartfelt film since "Diner."
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
If Liberty Heights is much too soft at its center, it still offers a deeper immersion in that old '50s feeling than any other Hollywood film in recent memory.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
But Levinson's passion to explain how he got from there to ''Sphere'' gives Liberty Heights its own farkatke Hollywood integrity.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Gary Thompson
As pleasant and rosy and optimistic as it is, Liberty Heights doesn't really soar, emotionally or otherwise.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
I could have done more with the edgy humor of "Diner" and "Tin Men" and less of the mythmaking of "Avalon."
Film.com Peter Brunette
Far from perfect, and at 122 minutes it's way too long, but after surviving an overly schematic and even hectoring first half, finally delivers the emotional goods.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
A lot here is genially entertaining, but it doesn't make for interesting or vital filmmaking, because while Levinson might honestly prefer rye, he makes movies the way Wonder Bread bakes.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
I think Levinson missed a chance to get something unique and audacious on screen.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Don Kaye
This may be what life was like for Levinson back in the day, but it makes a boring movie for the rest of us.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Told from too many perspectives, the narrative puts suspense above substance, and its social consciousness seems contrived.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Marc D. gave it an 8:
Barry Levinson uncorks another great one here. He deals with race relations in a very even-handed, sensitive way which is rare for a period piece, in my opinion.
Ryan M. gave it a 10:
Great re-creation of a time when predjudice was so strong that people didn't talk to each other. Extremely powerful and touching. It goes a little off the tracks at the end. But it turns out to be a good thing.
