Harriet
Focus Features | Release Date: November 1, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 29, 2019
The whole package is so sleekly watchable, if risk-averse to a fault, that I can’t recall a recent time at the cinema where I learned more by thinking less. Read full review
60
IGNJoi ChildsOct 30, 2019
Harriet has the best intentions, but despite a powerful lead performance by Cynthia Erivo, the film feels bereft of originality. It’s a shame that a film centering a woman whose life was filled with fear, risk, and compassion couldn’t summon those same elements for its story. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonNov 4, 2019
It’s handsomely made, and Erivo carries the film on her shoulders, but its movements are too clumsy to give Tubman the actualization she deserves. Read full review
58
The Film StageMark AschSep 14, 2019
Drawing from Tubman’s devout belief and history of seizures and visions, the film makes much of her visions, divine interventions which seem to appear anytime it’s dramatically convenient, alerting her to danger with considerable specificity. This magical-thinking approach to religion is a dramatic crutch for a film that maintains a hindsight perspective on Tubman, leaving a lot of blanks in its historical account and delegating much of Tubman and the Underground Railroad’s process and organization to supporting characters to handle offscreen. Read full review
58
The PlaylistJordan RuimySep 12, 2019
Ultimately, the lack of risk-taking not only makes for a pedantic experience but ironically serves Tubman very poorly, never allowing for Erivo’s performance or the spirit of the subject to ever feel truly free. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 2, 2019
Tubman’s case to be on the $20 bill, as a heroine straight out of American myth, is made, a brave Christian woman sprinting down the path of the righteous. Harriet stumbles when it makes her more prophetic and less a woman of action than she was. Read full review
40
EmpireAmon WarmannNov 19, 2019
Erivo’s impressive central performance is frequently undercut by an all-too-conventional approach. Hopefully in a few years Tubman can get the definitive biopic she deserves. Sadly, this isn’t it. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Angelica Jade BastienNov 2, 2019
Harriet only highlights how this genre can fail despite the so-called important nature of the picture and a talented black director at the helm. Read full review
40
Time OutPhil de SemlyenNov 1, 2019
Widows' Cynthia Erivo supplies dramatic weight to a project that squanders it on awkward action moments and simplistic showdowns. Read full review
40
TheWrapMonica CastilloSep 11, 2019
A disappointingly standard biopic, one whose technical flaws and paint-by-numbers clichés threaten to overshadow its subject’s compelling story. Read full review
More From This Movie

66 Critic Reviews

7.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL