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Avg. Critic Score: 76 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    In America is not unsentimental about its new arrivals (the movie has a warm heart and frankly wants to move us), but it is perceptive about the countless ways in which it is hard to be poor and a stranger in a new land. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Touching, but not cloying, uplifting and hopeful but never sappy and also just plain funny. There is not a false note among the five core performances, nor a false word in Sheridan's script. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    Layered with elements that are both amusing and touching but never threatening to collapse into a big heap of sentimental mush. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    In Sheridan's warm and glowing treatment, the moral of the story feels less like a reheated fable than like something utterly, indescribably original. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    An emotional wipeout. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Has moments of biting tenderness, yet the movie made me wish that Sheridan had let in more of America. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle |

    When you see a director going for that lump-in-the-throat mood, instinct takes over and you want to dig in your heels. Sometimes it's best just to let yourself be swept away. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    A recklessly emotional film that is so committed to feelings it occasionally overflows its banks. Which may be a little messy, but it's a lot more welcome than the drought-stricken alternatives. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Warm and borderline sentimental...also brimming with true and privileged moments, as well as an optimism in the face of tough circumstances that serves as a corrective to some of the more fashionably grim modern accounts of similar stories. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    Thanks to Jim Sheridan's graceful, scrupulously sincere direction and the dry intelligence of his cast, In America is likely to pierce the defenses of all but the most dogmatically cynical viewers. Read full review

View more reviews for In America on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Moving but slightly graphic; mature teens only.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie includes strong language, drinking, smoking, and drug use, violence, and very sad deaths. There's a sexual situation (and resulting childbirth). Tense moments include a violent confrontation and a serious health problem.
  • Families can talk about why Christy thinks that Frankie can grant her three wishes and about the different ways that each character responds to the loss of someone important to them.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Character deaths (off camera). Sad and scary situations.
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual references and situations.
  • language false3 Language: Some strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking, smoking, drug use.
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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