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Avg. Critic Score: 65 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Ali is a bruiser, unwieldy in length and ambition. But Mann and Smith deliver this powerhouse with the urgency of a champ's left hook. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    We see the movie levitate when Ali and Brown chant, "Float like a butterfly," the slogan that takes on a different meaning in each context, starting off as hopeful and spry, finally becoming rueful and pointed. When the film pulls off moments like these, it's breathtaking -- a near great movie. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Bob Graham

    Connects so often and so persuasively that its shortcomings -- the movie goes slack from time to time -- really don't amount to much. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    For everything it gets right, Ali, following its superb first hour, begins to lose the vision, clarity, and structure necessary to bring its hero into full focus. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Whatever the reason, the energy and hold-onto-your-seat excitement that Muhammad Ali brought to the sports world is oddly absent from this quite accomplished but finally distant film. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Just about everything Mann has chosen to present is valid, substantial and convincing, but by the end, the feeling persists that while certain essences have been grasped, only part of the story has been told. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Ali is no disgrace, but it's not much of a performer, especially considering that it is one of the few hyped year-end releases that coulda been a contender. Read full review

  • 60
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    For a movie, Michael Mann's Ali is great radio. It's almost better to squint, so that you see the film in soft focus, just fury and motion and blurred faces; meanwhile, with your ears cranked open wide, everybody sounds much more like they should than looks like they should. Read full review

  • 60
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Watching Ali, you can be sure of experiencing two opposing things: a sterling performance from Will Smith as Muhammad Ali and a bewilderingly punch-drunk movie from Michael Mann. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A long, flat, curiously muted film about the heavyweight champion. It lacks much of the flash, fire and humor of Muhammad Ali and is shot more in the tone of a eulogy than a celebration. There is little joy here. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Brutal fight scenes and frank racial issues.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that in addition to brutal fight scenes, the movie includes a character who is a drug addict, drinking and smoking, a sexual situation and sexual references (including adultery), and some strong language. The issue of racial and religious intolerance is forthrightly presented.
  • Families can talk about the conflict Ali faced when he was drafted. How did he decide what to do? How did he stay true to himself? What was the biggest challenge? When his wife told him not to trust the fight promoters who "talk black, act white, and think green," who was right?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Brutal fight scenes, brief gory photo of lynching victim.
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual references and situations, not as explicit as many Rs.
  • language false3 Language: Strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Character abuses drugs.

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