MilkMovie Reviews

Poster Art for "Milk."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
Must Go!
Avg. Critic Score: 84 out of 100 Universal acclaim 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.

  • 100
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    What makes Milk extraordinary isn't just that it's a nuanced, stirring portrait of one of the 20th century's most pivotal figures, but that it's also a nuanced, stirring portrait of the thousands of people he energized. Read full review

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    With Milk, a great San Francisco story becomes a great American story. Read full review

  • 100
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    It's a total triumph, brimming with humor, heart, sexual heat, political provocation and a crying need to stir things up, just like Harvey did. If there's a better movie around this year, with more bristling purpose, I sure as hell haven't seen it. Read full review

  • 100
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Harvey Milk was an intriguing, inspiring figure. Milk is a marvel. Read full review

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Sean Penn never tries to show Harvey Milk as a hero, and never needs to. He shows him as an ordinary man, kind, funny, flawed, shrewd, idealistic, yearning for a better world. Read full review

  • 91
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    A fascinating film -- more docudrama than biopic. Read full review

  • 90
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    The film is superbly crafted, covering huge amounts of time, people and the zeitgeist without a moment of lapsed energy or inattention to detail. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Penn's Oscar-caliber transformation is breathtaking, and the saga of one man's fight for human rights is engrossing. Read full review

  • 80
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Brolin's work is superlatively expressive of the inchoate impulses roiling inside his sorry character. But good as most of the cast is, the show belongs squarely to Penn. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    There's nothing terribly wrong with Milk, it's just that its celebration of a culture and a neighborhood, its valentine to the early days of gay rights activism, is mostly more conventional than compelling. Read full review

View more reviews for Milk on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Memorable, mature biopic brings a movement to life.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this intense, stirring drama examines the life of Harvey Milk, a civil- and gay-rights advocate who was assassinated in 1978. It explores prejudice against homosexuals and traces the beginnings of the gay rights movement. The film offers an unflinching look at homophobia during that era. Expect strong language (including "f--k" and "s--t"), sexual situations, partial nudity, political manipulation, suicide, and murder. Some material may be too challenging for younger teens, but older teens and adults will find it a thought-provoking piece of history.
  • Families can talk about what Harvey Milk stood for -- pro and con. What do your kids think about the gay rights movement, and how do they think things have changed -- if at all -- since 1978? Does the movie have a point of view on Milk's role in history? Do your kids think it's accurate? Why? Another good discussion can be had about the art of the film itself and how the filmmakers used archival footage in the movie. Does that affect the authenticity of what people are seeing?
The good stuff
  • message true2 Positive messages: Milk discovers a sense of purpose when he moves to San Francisco with and becomes an equal-rights advocate. His story gives hope to countless gay men, many of whom are afraid to come out. Milk and his longtime boyfriend appear to have a nurturing, supportive relationship, but when they break up, Milk finds himself embroiled in a highly dysfunctional relationship, which unfortunately ends in suicide. Later, Milk himself is assassinated by a fellow politician. Political intrigue and betrayals are revealed; the assassination plays out in excruciating detail onscreen.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: A man shoots two others, point blank. Another man is beat up in a hate crime. Black-and-white archival footage shows homosexuals being harassed by cops. Also, a man Milk is involved with hangs himself; the scene in which his body is discovered is upsetting and somewhat gruesome.
  • sex false4 Sex: Hook ups between men. Lots of ogling and a fair number of conversations filled with sexual innuendo (including discussion of what one person would "do" to another). Naked photos; a man walks around in his briefs. Men kiss and grope each other.
  • language false4 Language: Fairly explicit, including "c--ksucking," "dick," "s--t," "f--k," "prick," and more. A derogatory epithet that starts with "f" is also hurled a few times.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Social drinking, some to the point of inebriation. Some characters are shown rolling marijuana.
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.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

4.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

...very moving Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Milk Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Watch All Videos

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook