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Liberty Heights
Warner Bros.


9.0

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 2 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

MPAA 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.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Barry Levinson
DIRECTED BY:	Barry Levinson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 19, 2000 Video: June 19, 2000 Theatrical: November 17, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	127 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

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.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Barry Levinson goes deep with Liberty Heights, and the result is a grand slam.

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.

Film.com Tom Keogh

Levinson is at the top of his game with Liberty Heights, his instincts acutely cinematic, his purpose clear.

Time Richard Schickel

Seems to encompass all the humor, sadness and weirdness of ordinary life in an utterly winning, morally acute way.

Newsweek David Ansen

A languorous, funny and lovingly detailed memory film.

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.

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.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Well worth the wait.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Easily one of the year's best movies.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

A uniquely personal, vibrant mosaic of the American dream, and like a dream, it evaporates beautifully before our eyes.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Buoyant with quiet smiles and unpretentious fondness.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

A disarmingly funny, clear-eyed, and affectionate memory piece.

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.

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."

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Has integrity, but the way he bends his tale to make a statement is overly deliberate.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

As good as the film is in so many ways, it also altogether rings a bit false and contrived.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

Few mainstream films portray the religiousness or ethnicity of characters with such detail, warmth and humor as Liberty Heights.

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.

USA Today Mike Clark

Just a good time at the movies, but it's still a smarter two hours than most "good times" are.

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.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Levinson brings it all back home to Baltimore and delivers his funniest and most heartfelt film since "Diner."

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.

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Gary Thompson

As pleasant and rosy and optimistic as it is, Liberty Heights doesn't really soar, emotionally or otherwise.

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.

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.

Slate David Edelstein

I think Levinson missed a chance to get something unique and audacious on screen.

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.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Told from too many perspectives, the narrative puts suspense above substance, and its social consciousness seems contrived.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 2 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.

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Liberty Heights Warner Bros.

Liberty Heights
Warner Bros.