Angela's Ashes
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: December 22, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
12
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Lacks the humor and charm that fills the book and makes it so much more than a catalog of suffering.
88
USA TodayMike Clark
True to the book's squalor but also finding honest humor where it can. Read full review
85
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
I didn't want it to end. I could have easily sat there for another two-and-a-half hours to find out what happens next.
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The question is not whether the movie exactly duplicates the experience of the book, but whether the movie stands on its own. Angela's Ashes clearly does. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It really gets gloomy. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldCurtis Morgan
Something of Angela's Ashes does gets lost in translation -- mainly, its fiercely funny voice.
75
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
Parker has honored the core of the work and in the process turned a great memoir into a memorable movie.
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Haunts the conscience, troubles the spirit.
75
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
The author calls the movie "perfect" - reassurance that the director hasn't tried to pull any fast ones. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
At times an uneasy mix of cold-eyed neorealism and soft-headed sentimentality, but after its initial struggles it presents itself as a moving film, made with loving craft, a painterly eye and luscious language.
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Dramatic, massive in scale, at times very moving. And yet, somehow, it comes up short in terms of essential poetry. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
If this beautifully made if flawed film sends people back to his book, it will have done good work for sure. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Artfully evokes the physical realities of Irish poverty, but mostly misses the humor, lyricism and emotional charge of Frank McCourt's magical and magnificent memoir Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
While the film dutifully reproduces many incidents from the book, it lacks the spirit and vitality of its source. And - no small problem - it lacks McCourt's voice knitting the vignettes together. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What is wonderful about Angela's Ashes is Emily Watson's performance, and the other roles that are convincingly cast. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Not since the latest fashion layout flirted with arty desolation, has misery looked this fabulously pristine. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
As well-crafted and sensitive as it is, the movie remains one step removed from inspiration. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Parker's adaptation is meticulous, unsentimental, beautifully acted-- but nearly two and a half hours worth of dying babies, rain-spattered streets, ragged children and filthy, bug-infested rooms is a bit oppressive. Read full review
59
Mr. ShowbizCody Clark
If Parker had aimed more at capturing the author's unique voice, and worried less about getting the details right, his movie might have been extraordinary as well.
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's the first film I know of in which we get to see all five of the top-billed actors vomit Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
140 minutes of flat vignette, as dreary and uninvolving as the driving rain that never lets up on the benighted streets of Limerick. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The end result smacks more of Hollywood melodrama than true compassion for the suffering poor. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
Has anyone involved in this disaster ever heard a real story? Read full review
50
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
As with so many recent literary adaptations, it was the writing that was the art, not its infrastructure of plot and character.
50
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
For those who adore McCourt's work, Angela's Ashes will most likely disappoint; for those unfamiliar with this inspiring chronicle of a survivor, it will neither impress nor dishearten to any degree. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Seems populated yet uninhabited; the only real star is the gloom. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
A sharp and pungent distillation of the book. However, as far as the theme of childhood under duress goes, I found "My Life as a Dog" or the stridently Irish "Into the West" to be significantly more fulfilling. Read full review
30
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
Lacks development and dramatic coherence. Read full review
30
Film.comPeter Brunette
Never more than a dull, paint-by-numbers, overly literal transcription of the book. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
If misery were inherently interesting, this adaptation starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle as a couple plagued by alcoholism and child mortality might be too. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
In the translation from page to film, the life seems to have gone out of the story Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The effect of the 2 1/2-hour film is deadening. Read full review
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