Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Lionsgate | Release Date: November 6, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's a potent and moving experience, because by the end you feel you've witnessed nothing less than the birth of a soul. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A great American film. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This drama about an obese, illiterate black teen in Harlem practically guarantees some emotional uplift. But when it arrives, eventually, its authority is unimpeachable, so deeply has director Lee Daniels (Monster's Ball) immersed us in the depths of human ugliness. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Genuinely and irresistibly inspirational. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
A movie about an obese Harlem teenager who's raped by her father and abused by her mother. It's depressing, devastating, harrowing and repulsive. But there are lyric flights of hope interspersed among that raw naturalism, and that's what makes this movie amazing. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Qualifies as the most painful, poetic and improbably beautiful film of the year. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This movie catalogs a wealth of human ugliness. It’s even been made to look ugly, presumably to underscore the horror movie that is Precious’s life. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's cathartic and exhilarating. Read full review
100
EmpireAngie Errigo
While it may not be perfect on a technical level, dramatically it’s a blow-your-socks-off triumph. Be moved. Very, very moved. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Precious can’t be endorsed as entertainment: the circumstances and incidents and emotions in the film are far too dark and painful. But there is exhilaration in its daring, in its craft and in the powerhouse work of its principal actresses. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Nimble and self-assured as Mr. Daniels’s direction may be, he could not make you believe in “Precious” unless you were able to believe in Precious herself. You will. Read full review
90
NPRBob Mondello
Its story ends up packing an emotional wallop as substantial as its title character. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Nothing quite prepares you for the rough-cut diamond that is Precious. A rare blend of pure entertainment and dark social commentary, this shockingly raw, surprisingly irreverent and absolutely unforgettable story. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Manages the task of being both heartbreaking and heart-warming. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
This is an exceptional film about nearly unendurable circumstances, endured. You will come out the other side of it a markedly enriched filmgoer. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Claireece "Precious" Jones, played by Gabourey Sidibe, 24, in an astounding debut that brims with grit and amazing grace. Read full review
88
New York PostV.A. Musetto
To its credit, this remarkable film does not contrive a happy ending. Under the circumstances, even a mildly hopeful one seems like a triumph of the highest order. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Although Precious is based on a novel, it's an act of truth-telling on behalf of a character in hellish enslavement. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
It melodramatizes everything and yet its overall effect is something more than melodrama. Read full review
80
Film ThreatNick Antosca
Shot in the manner of a grueling horror picture, with jittery edits to half-remembered traumas and glistening close-ups on the faces of monsters. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
As Precious, Sidibe is superb, allowing us to see the inner warmth and beauty of a young woman who, to her world's cruel eyes, might seem monstrous. Read full review
80
VarietyJohn Anderson
An urban nightmare with a surfeit of soul, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire is like a diamond -- clear, bright, but oh so hard. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The film's real strength is its cast, from an Oscar-bound Mo'Nique to a notably deglammed Mariah Carey. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Not even Douglas Sirk or Lars von Trier would heap so much abuse on a heroine. And yet, on its own melodramatic, tear-jerking terms, Precious works. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Despite its melodramatic moments, remarkable performances drive home the film's inspiring message. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
You go to a Daniels movie not to be entertained, but edified. While not everyone goes to the movies for self-improvement, you will leave this one having witnessed phenomenal acting. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
This bruising, harrowing movie would be impossible to sit through without at least a hint of light at the end of its astonishingly dark tunnel. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Precious is a bit like having a piano dropped on your head: messy but memorable. Read full review
70
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Yet even when the movie is at its most schizoid, Precious still packs a wallop. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The performances are so plainspoken and direct that they manage to push the material beyond the confines of a mere social-problem tract -- as played by the cast, these characters aren't symbols of inner-city hardship, but people. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
It is certainly the best button-pushing movie of the year. Read full review
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