Amazing GraceMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 65 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
10 Iffy for 10+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Fortunately, director Michael Apted and his team understand the challenges of this kind of story and have met them with intelligence and energy. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Anyone who has ever felt morally right and completely in the minority will have a point of entry into this movie. Read full review

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    Apted opts not to show the horrendous cruelty inflicted on thousands upon thousands of captive Africans, shackled and chained, making their way to the Americas in ships. Instead, he has Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionists describe the inhumane conditions - in the precise, passionate language of legislators who believe that human decency is more important than money and power. Read full review

  • 75
    New York Daily News | Jack Mathews

    Compelling and highly informative. Read full review

  • 70
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    A case of good works done well. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    The overall effect is part BBC-style biography, part Hollywood-like hagiography, and generally pleasing and often moving, even when the story wobbles off the historical rails or becomes bogged down in dopey romance. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Eddie Cockrell

    Picture reflects the no-nonsense storytelling skills of prolific helmer Michael Apted, whose career-long mix of feature and documentary work holds him in good stead once more. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly |

    It's earnest, solemn stuff. The movie sings an old tune -- Albert Finney is the blind minister who wrote the title ditty -- and it leaves the blood unstirred. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    It's a doughty movie, stuck halfway between Masterpiece Theatre and Classics Illustrated, but, to his credit, gifted journeyman director Michael Apted understands he's playing the long game. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    If Amazing Grace serves its most superficial purpose -- to educate the viewer -- it's hardly compelling viewing. Read full review

View more reviews for Amazing Grace on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 10+ Earnest drama about fervent English abolitionist.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that a former slave and a former slave ship captain describe slavery in direct, no-holds-barred language. Flashbacks and dream sequences also involve slavery. A horse is beaten in an early scene. Instruments of physical abuse -- chains, restraints, clamps -- appear on screen. Men smoke pipes, and several characters drink liquor at parties and sometimes alone. Wilberforce suffers from colitis and takes opium-based medicine to treat it. Mild language ("hell" and "damn"), plus one very pointed use of the "N" word.
  • Families can talk about how Wilberforce connects his religious calling with his political career. How is his work inspired by his faith? What is the significance of the song "Amazing Grace," both for the early (and lengthy) abolitionist movement, and, later, during the Civil Rights movement in the United States? Do you think the politicians that Wilberforce was up against liked slavery? If not, why did they continue to support the practice? How is the political lobbying and dealmaking of Wilberforce and his gang similar to what goes on in politics today? How is it different?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Wilberforce is a good man struggling to abolish slavery; his political opponents describe slavery as "good business," even though the film repeatedly demonstrates the dehumanization and violence such "business" entails. Plenty of political wrangling and deal-making.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: In the first scene, two men beat a horse (Wilberforce stops them); much discussion of slavery and physical abuse; Equiano shows a brand on his chest; metal torture and restraint devices inspire Wilberforce to work harder at abolition; flashback scene shows a child knocked by an explosion; Wilberforce and others describe or imagine slaves in chains and under duress. Wilberforce's poor health leads to some tense scenes.
  • sex false0 Sex: Wilberforce dreams of a scene in which fully clothed couples mbrace and cavort in a theater; minor flirting and kissing between Wilberforce and Barbara; she shows cleavage several times.
  • language false3 Language: An overtly "bad" character uses the "N" word; other profanity is mild, including "ass," "hell," and "damn."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Pipe smoking; several scenes show social drinking (Wilberforce disparages drinking as a sign of low morals); Wilberforce takes an opium-based medicine (laudanum).
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dave White

3.0

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… no extraneous Schindler's List-y explicit sex scenes … Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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