Green Book

Name: Green Book
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Comedy, Music
Released: November 16, 2018
Duration: 130 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Brian Stepanek, Daniel Greene, Dimiter Marinov, Don Stark, Iqbal Theba

2018

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 52 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 606 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 606 Ratings

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Green Book

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 16, 2018 | PG-13

Starring: Brian Stepanek, Daniel Greene, Dimiter Marinov, Don Stark, Iqbal Theba, Jenna Laurenzo, Joseph Cortese, Linda Cardellini, Maggie Nixon, Mahershala Ali, Martin Bats Bradford, Mike Hatton, Nick Vallelonga, Ninja N. Devoe, P.J. Byrne, Ricky Muse, Sebastian Maniscalco, Tom Virtue, Viggo Mortensen, Von Lewis

Movie Facts:

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2018, and nominated for 4 additional Academy Awards.
Named best picture of 2018 by the National Board of Review. Won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). See additional awards and nominations
Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.

Summary: When Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on The Green Book to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe forWhen Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on The Green Book to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger-as well as unexpected humanity and humor-they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime. [Universal Pictures]… Expand

Director: Peter Farrelly

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, History, Comedy, Music

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 130 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Rex Reed

Nov 18, 2018

Witty and warm as cashmere, Green Book is a two-hander in which both stars soar with humor and heart. Read full review

Lindsey Bahr

Nov 19, 2018

If there is a big studio movie that’s more generally crowd-pleasing than Green Book this season, I have yet to find it. Read full review

Vince Mancini

Nov 19, 2018

Green Book certainly paints a rosy picture of race relations, but ultimately I don’t think its little white lies are a bad thing. Like my father did with me, it’s telling us a story that makes our grandfathers seem better than they probably were. But it does so as an example of how we should be, as an aspirational ideal that maybe we’ll live up to one day even if we didn’t yesterday. Read full review

Jake Cole

Sep 17, 2018

Peter Farrelly manages to respect the severity of the characters’ social context while ensuring that Green Book never steps outside its protagonists’ relationship, a delicate balancing act that credibly makes a feel-good, effervescent comedy out of its thorny subject matter without ever sanitizing it. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Nov 20, 2018

Two terrific performances and the interplay between the two actors – Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen – are the reasons to see Green Book. Their pas de deux is a master class in acting, and the twosome’s give and take provides good company for the road trip that comprises the heart of this narrative. Read full review

Zoe Margolis

Feb 1, 2019

Even with admirable acting, and such a crowd-pleasing, inspirational story, Green Book essentially feels like civil-rights lip-service for a white audience, and given the background to the script, it’s a disappointing portrayal of historical systemic racism, whilst ignoring its continuation in modern-day America. Read full review

Richard Brody

Nov 19, 2018

It’s a calculatedly heartwarming and good-humored look at atrocious actions, ideas, and attitudes with a pallid glow of halcyon optimism, a view of a change of heart that’s achieved through colossal exertions and confrontations with danger. Read full review

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User Reviews

consumerguy

Dec 6, 2018

"This based on a true story" film is an unexpected surprise. Few films are able to combine compelling drama and comedy without stretching one genre or the other. If you had given me a list of one hundred candidates for the role of a semi-educated 1960s nightclub bouncer from the Bronx, I"This based on a true story" film is an unexpected surprise. Few films are able to combine compelling drama and comedy without stretching one genre or the other. If you had given me a list of one hundred candidates for the role of a semi-educated 1960s nightclub bouncer from the Bronx, I probably would have placed Vigo Mortenson I at the bottom of that list as a likely candidate for the role. And he knocks the role of Tony Lip outta the park. Mahershala Ali, who won an Oscar for his role as the ominous drug dealer in Moonlighting is no less a surprise as the somewhat prissy and bottled-up jazz pianist
Don Shirley.
In balancing issues of racism and violence with laugh-out-loud humor, director Peter Farrelly is this film's third surprise. Along with brother Bobby, Farrelly is most famous for dopey and base comedies like the "Dumb and Dumber" flicks.
I was amazed by Farrelly's deft handling of transitions that move from Tony's knuckle-headed ignorant insights to the humiliations heaped upon a refined black man in the mid-twentieth century Deep South by hypocritical sophisticates.
Green book is an emotional, artistic and fulfilling gem.… Expand

11 of 16 users found this helpful115

Flotcha

Jan 27, 2019

Best wide release movie of the year. Great acting, directing, cinematography. Has it all. How a movie like the favorite ends up with a Metacritic rating of 90, and this a 70, it is difficult to fathom.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

Johndoe1828

Jun 28, 2021

Amazing. Great acting, shots, and dialogue.I guess I gotta type I bunch of words to publish this so I’ll just right the bio for it on google. “Dr Don Shirley is a world-class African-American pianist, who is about to embark on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962. In need of a driver andAmazing. Great acting, shots, and dialogue.I guess I gotta type I bunch of words to publish this so I’ll just right the bio for it on google. “Dr Don Shirley is a world-class African-American pianist, who is about to embark on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962. In need of a driver and protection, Shirley recruits Tony Lip, a tough-talking bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx. Despite their differences, the two men soon develop an unexpected bond while confronting racism and danger in an era of segregation” (Google Bio Thingy).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AceZachRocks2

Nov 21, 2018

I was shocked how much I liked this movie, It has a heart of gold. It's always sweet and funny and you love the two leads despite some of there opinions and weird charms. This is one of the best Comedy Dramas I have seen in a while. I hope either of the leads will win some award becauseI was shocked how much I liked this movie, It has a heart of gold. It's always sweet and funny and you love the two leads despite some of there opinions and weird charms. This is one of the best Comedy Dramas I have seen in a while. I hope either of the leads will win some award because without them this movie would be bland. 8/10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

netflic

Dec 26, 2018

Based on real events and real people, this film is about relationship between a famous black pianist Don Shirley and his driver Tony, a New York bouncer of Italian origin.
The name 'Green Book' refers to a hotel travel guide in the Deep South where black people were allowed to stay inBased on real events and real people, this film is about relationship between a famous black pianist Don Shirley and his driver Tony, a New York bouncer of Italian origin.
The name 'Green Book' refers to a hotel travel guide in the Deep South where black people were allowed to stay in 1960th. Obviously, racism (especially in the South) is one of the main themes of the movie.
It's also about family, dignity, courage, self-identification, and many other things, foremost about an earning to connect, to feel close. It is a serious drama peppered with funny episodes.
Great performances from both leads. Believable script, detailed nuances.
Overall, the movie is quite enjoyable to watch.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

PalpetineSheev

Mar 20, 2020

It's oscar-bait. Good oscar-bait. Really good oscar-bait. But it is still oscar-bait.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

hnestlyonthesly

Oct 7, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie is poison. Its main problem is while its story deadens your soul, you feel good watching, because Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen have such electric chemistry. As Wife puts it, the film posits that racism is something that an eight week road trip can resolve.

The geographic chronology of this film suggests that the country becomes more racist the farther south you go, when what is clear to anyone in the know, is that racist institutions exist in large and subtle ways in every corner of the country. Wife says that Dr Shirley addresses that point after the bar scene when he asks Tony if it would’ve gone any different at a bar in his neighborhood in New York, but it’s clear that otherwise confusingly banal scenes of #notallwhitecops helping Tony and Shirley on their ride home in the snow are meant to signal something unnecessary and facile about the forces of inclusion and progressivism in the country. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz’s book Everybody Lies talks about how Big Data show racial animosity is not a North-South divide so much as an East-West of the Mississippi divide (if memory serves).

There’s a fair bit of soap-boxing, self-congratulatory progressive liberalism, back-dated to 1962–what Wife called the “simpering” morality of one of Dr Shirley’s musician friends who eulogizes his “bravery”. The deepest the two ever get in discussing racial politics is during a fight toward the end of the film, when Tony accuses Shirley of not being black enough, which triggers a powerful cut scene back to the trailer that brought audiences in the first place, but doesn’t push the ball much further down the field. Dr Shirley calls Tony a moron again and they wisely agree to disagree, rather than dragging themselves into a nasty discussion about institutional racism and white privilege. There are a lot of straw man arguments that the script, in part written by family of the protagonists, sets up to avoid any real reckoning with racism, and they’ve been more thoughtfully lampooned everywhere months ago.

Most interesting thing I thought Wife said about this film was that it was missing a Winter Sequence. There weren’t really any stakes to the film, no conflict to prompt action, change, or growth from our main characters. The lack of a winter sequence is what makes the film a feel-good film, but that also sucks the air out of the script and makes it feel a little brain dead.

Every good actor is allotted a certain number of bad movies. There’s nothing wrong with this story being told, necessarily. It’s just not that it’s an especially insightful or needed story and it might actually be kind of actively hostile to the goals it seems like it’s striving towards.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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