In America
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 26, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostMegan Lehmann
It's a wistful yet penetrating film, shot through with magic realism and life-affirming humor, that gets you deep down where you live. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In America is not unsentimental about its new arrivals (the movie has a warm heart and frankly wants to move us), but it is perceptive about the countless ways in which it is hard to be poor and a stranger in a new land. Read full review
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Has a warmth that’s utterly enchanting, and a tenderness that’s genuinely touching. This is a real gem. Read full review
100
SalonCharles Taylor
Jim Sheridan's miraculous In America, a generous but never sentimental fable of Irish immigrants in '80s New York, may be the great movie of 2003. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
In America is the most unexpected and personal triumph yet from Jim Sheridan. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
The miracle of the movie is the Bolger sisters, who are so direct and matter-of-fact that they hardly seem to be acting. But their simplicity is radiant. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Magic suffuses this film -- performances that approach perfection, or achieve it, moments of exceptional grace as a troubled family plays out a contemporary version of a classic immigration saga, healing itself in the process.
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
The movie's slight, anecdotal structure is deceptive; you wouldn't guess how big an emotional wallop it packs. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
It is that rare find: a film that is as emotionally truthful as it is satisfying. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
These people and the tale of their migration and reintegration into life’s ebb and flow will remain with the viewer long after Johnny's and Sarah’s green cards expire. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Family life rarely is portrayed with such warmth, clarity and vibrancy as in In America. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Touching, but not cloying, uplifting and hopeful but never sappy and also just plain funny. There is not a false note among the five core performances, nor a false word in Sheridan's script. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Wondrously emotional film, one that sneakily dismantles your defenses and purges grief you didn't realize you had. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's a fresh-hearted film that only frustrates when you sense how close it is to being exceptional. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It is kept watchable and empathetic by the energy of the superb performances and the sense of complete freshness. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
In Sheridan's warm and glowing treatment, the moral of the story feels less like a reheated fable than like something utterly, indescribably original. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderMeredith Brody
The result is a blend of kitchen-sink and magical realism: sentimental, but well acted and freshly observed. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Layered with elements that are both amusing and touching but never threatening to collapse into a big heap of sentimental mush. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The acting is uniformly superb. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Has moments of biting tenderness, yet the movie made me wish that Sheridan had let in more of America. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
If you're looking for a bit of an uplift, you could do worse among the gloom of so many holiday dramas. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
An emotional wipeout. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
When you see a director going for that lump-in-the-throat mood, instinct takes over and you want to dig in your heels. Sometimes it's best just to let yourself be swept away. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In the end, is In America slight in its sentimentality and manipulative in its moral? Sure, but that's the job of any fable or myth. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The script expertly captures kids' behavior. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
But there are so many beautiful, tender moments in In America -- that it's easy to forgive Sheridan's manipulative ploys. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Warm and borderline sentimental...also brimming with true and privileged moments, as well as an optimism in the face of tough circumstances that serves as a corrective to some of the more fashionably grim modern accounts of similar stories. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Schickel
Emma Bolger is -- no other word for it -- magical in the role...In her way she encapsulates In America's virtues. It's a realistic movie, but one that's always aware that transformative hope may be just around the corner. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
While In America doesn't convince as an immigrants-in-the-U.S. story, it resonates powerfully as a portrait of grief and reconciliation. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Like a kid playing make-believe, In America is blithely confident of its own contrivances; it only benefits from a certain unselfconscious naïveté. And as with a misjudged Christmas gift or a mawkish sympathy card from a kindly relative, one can hardly doubt its uplifting intentions. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A recklessly emotional film that is so committed to feelings it occasionally overflows its banks. Which may be a little messy, but it's a lot more welcome than the drought-stricken alternatives. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Thanks to Jim Sheridan's graceful, scrupulously sincere direction and the dry intelligence of his cast, In America is likely to pierce the defenses of all but the most dogmatically cynical viewers. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The film is not emotionally subtle, but it is beautifully shot, by cinematographer Declan Quinn, with a grainy, impressionistic eye that mimics a perpetual dance of shards of remembered experience. Read full review
70
Film ThreatBob Westal
Contains enough magic and sincerity to cover the proverbial multitude of cinematic sins. And, better yet, for all the Irishness, it contains not a single alcoholic and not one barroom brawl! Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It's hard to dislike a film that wants to say that the bereft have to move on with their lives, that death is part of living, and that poverty is a state of mind. But it's not impossible. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMerle Bertrand
Definitely designed to tug on its audience's heartstrings, a task at which it completely succeeds, In America is ultimately a solid, if unspectacular family film. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Fortunately, there are more than enough moments when the heavy-handedness gives way to the sheer bliss of ordinary magic. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The film is marvelously acted -- the Bolger sisters are a delight -- and Sheridan captures New York City's crazy energy as only an newcomer can. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
In short, the Sheridan of In America wants us to pity his characters for the rough ride that they endure, yet at the same time he traps them inside a bubble of the picturesque and the outlandish. Even if you like this movie, you have to ask: What has it done to deserve its title? [1 December 2003, p. 118]
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The story has too many trite moments, but strong acting and a goodhearted attitude keep it afloat. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It has its charms, but fails to strike a similar emotional chord. Read full review
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