Crown Heights
IFC Films | Release Date: August 18, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 24, 2017
It’s an earnest rather then energetic retelling but Stanfield’s stare is indelible. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDanny KingAug 23, 2017
Most of Crown Heights, which is based on an episode of public radio’s This American Life, suffers from structural confusion. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 27, 2017
Perhaps cowed by respect for a real man who suffered so much, Stanfield seems reluctant to charm viewers. Warner is sympathetic, of course, but Ruskin continually requires wounded earnestness from his lead, and shows little of whatever spark of inner life must have been required for Warner to survive these years without losing his mind. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 27, 2017
Crown Heights works best when the political and the personal merge with the insidious nature of corruption and systemic cultural, societal and economic oppression. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghSep 7, 2017
Crown Heights is soul-shaking only in the abstract. In execution, it’s deathly dull. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 30, 2017
As righteous as it is, Crown Heights fritters away goodwill normally built by intimate, revealing performances, sacrificing clarity for under-explained bulk examples of injustice, and exhausting its sense of outrage in the process. Read full review
50
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonAug 24, 2017
As a Big Message movie about the racism inherent in the criminal justice system, Crown Heights succeeds admirably enough. As an effective drama, however, the film is frustrating in its unwillingness to engage with its characters beyond its broader strokes. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaAug 13, 2017
The film plays like a human-interest story in which all of the humanity has been gutted in favor of deadening narrative efficiency. Read full review
50
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 27, 2017
There’s no denying that the tale of Colin Warner, a man who spent decades behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit, is a powerful one, but writer-director Matt Ruskin doesn’t give us anything here that a documentary couldn’t do better. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 27, 2017
Despite the efforts of its cast, Crown Heights is too crammed and hectic to convey the immensity of the systemic evils that run through its ruptured heart. Read full review
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