42
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: April 12, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierApr 11, 2013
Boseman is watchful, winning and confident, but never saintly. Yet he keeps Robinson’s moral spine aligned with his skill and self-respect, showing how he needed all of those to succeed. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 10, 2013
One of the all-time great sports movies — primarily because it's one of the all-time great sports stories. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanApr 12, 2013
Spike Lee wanted for years to make a Jackie Robinson film, and I hope he still gets his chance. Another take, maybe angrier or more polemic, could be fascinating, and the heroism of Jackie Robinson was significant enough to justify more than a few movies. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGabe ToroApr 10, 2013
42 is excessively retro, neglecting the urge to pepper scenes with comic relief or oppressing, flashy conflict. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanApr 10, 2013
Helgeland works in what I think of as a conservative — or maybe it's just really, really basic — neoclassical Hollywood style, spelling everything out, letting the story unfold in a plainspoken and deliberate fashion, with a big, wide, open pictorial camera eye. It's like the latter-day Clint Eastwood style, applied to material that's as traditional as can be. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfApr 11, 2013
The style of the film, lush and traditional, is nothing special, but the takeaway, a daily struggle for dignity, is impossibly moving. Read full review
75
Film.comLaremy LegelApr 12, 2013
A kind and decent film, but doesn't add to Robinson's legacy. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 11, 2013
Harrison plays Rickey with a jutting jaw, squinting eye and hoarse bark straight out of the Irascible Old Coot playbook, his character constantly invoking God and the almighty dollar to justify what became known as Rickey’s “noble experiment.” Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 11, 2013
Unfortunately, the generic bio-pic structure of 42 prevents it from ever becoming something great. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 11, 2013
A superior sports movie, dealing honestly with a great American story.
75
New York PostLou LumenickApr 11, 2013
42 may not be a home run, but it’s certainly a solid three-base hit as worthy family entertainment. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaApr 11, 2013
42 doesn't shirk from showing how daunting it was for Robinson to turn the other cheek, as Ford's Rickey tells him he must do, in the face of the insults and hostility. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsApr 11, 2013
The inspirational movie named for Robinson’s number is too dignified to throw audiences a curveball, let alone a knockdown pitch, but its solid fundamentals make it a winner. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 10, 2013
42 is competent, occasionally rousing and historically respectful — but it rarely rises above standard, old-fashioned biography fare. It’s a mostly unexceptional film about an exceptional man. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreApr 10, 2013
Earnest, righteous, historically accurate and often entertaining. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedApr 9, 2013
It’s a perfectly unexceptional but slickly made, sincerely acted, often entertaining, sometimes manipulative and always watchable blend of action on the diamond and bravery behind the scenes that will please baseball fanatics more than movie historians. It’s a good enough biopic to make you wish it were a better motion picture. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 10, 2013
Helgeland has given us an impressive introduction to one of the most important men in U.S. history. But you can’t help wanting more. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackApr 10, 2013
Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Beharie as Rachel Robinson both deliver terrific performances, and the cast of managers and ballplayers – are excellent. Harrison Ford plays Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey as a larger-than-life eccentric, seeming almost like a demented Orville Redenbacher at times. Read full review
65
NPRBob MondelloApr 11, 2013
A profile in real-life courage that would be stronger as a movie if it weren't quite so intent on underlining teachable moments. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigApr 12, 2013
It takes a particularly ham-fisted filmmaker to transform a fascinating and historically significant story into something as formulaic as 42. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleApr 12, 2013
And still 42 persists in entertaining you, even when you’re cringing, because the real story is so compelling. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenApr 11, 2013
In the hallowed frames of 42, the legend is front and centre and still inspiring. Too bad the more interesting man is nowhere to be seen. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 11, 2013
The ambitious new biopic about Robinson, is better written and produced than those children’s books, but it isn’t any deeper, and that’s a disappointment. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 11, 2013
Treats its now-mythic Brooklyn Dodger with respect, reverence and love. But who's in there, underneath the mythology? Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 10, 2013
Given Helgeland's rep as a screenwriter (including an Oscar for 1997's L.A. Confidential), it rankles that 42 settles for the official story. The private Robinson, who died of a heart attack at 53 in 1972, stays private. We stay on the outside looking in. Let it be. Read full review
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