Patti Cake$
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: August 18, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 17, 2017
This is a feel-good tale through-and-through yet, because of the aesthetic and setting, it doesn’t feel cloying and artificial. And, perhaps most importantly, it earns the modest ending. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodJan 28, 2017
At no point in Patti Cake$ is there ever a hint that Macdonald is unable to legitimately rap. She’s simply a revelation. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJan 28, 2017
One could argue that Patti Cake$ doesn’t break any new ground, but that would ignore the infectious attitude of its determine young heroine, and how much it stands out from conventional variations. Read full review
80
EmpireHamish McbainSep 4, 2017
A story we’ve seen told a hundred times before feels fresh thanks to Danielle Macdonald’s brilliant performance, handling both the drama and the rapping in style. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 31, 2017
Even if a filmmaker is dealing with familiar themes, when he or she fills in the blanks as sweetly and amiably as writer-director Geremy Gasper does in Patti Cake$, any desire to pick things apart all but vanishes. Read full review
80
Time OutAnna SmithAug 17, 2017
The tone balances realism and optimism with the accent on the latter; ultimately Patti Cake$ has the kind of uplifting, defiant-misfit mood that’s easy to compare with fellow Sundance hit "Little Miss Sunshine." Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 28, 2017
Debut director Geremy Jasper has said Patti is part-modelled on his own life, and there’s a real empathy on display here for her internal and external struggles, a gift which Mcdonald makes the most of in her own debut. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 28, 2017
In the end, it’s the ensemble’s collective attitude, plus the palpable chemistry between Patti and her friends, that defines the experience, not the stock desire to be discovered. Though if Patti Cake$ really did exist, this movie would certainly make her star. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 28, 2017
Geremy Jasper’s dynamic debut crackles with energy and grassroots authenticity. But it wouldn’t have worked at all without the right leading lady, which it found in Danielle Macdonald, whose rapping seems convincingly born of her character’s rough life experience. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 29, 2017
Jasper has blended “Precious” with “Hustle & Flow,” and even if you don’t dig the music, you will root for the characters and hope for a happy ending even though disaster and tragedy lurk around every corner. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 24, 2017
Patti Cake$ charts a path of rise and fall, breakthrough and disappointment, montage and romance that would be woefully predictable if we weren’t having so much fun tagging along. What’s fresh is the central figure, her talent and presence, and an exuberance that all that concrete Tri-State armor can’t hide. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 24, 2017
It’s less about music and more about how hard it is — and how bad it feels — to be absolutely and completely on the outside. And though the movie is uncompromising on that score — and shows its heroine going through a series of humiliations that are almost as painful to watch as they would be to experience — it’s not self-pitying. It’s dead-eyed accurate, and that’s its ultimate redemption. Read full review
75
Rolling StoneStaff (Not Credited)Aug 24, 2017
Macdonald sells it, the predictable and the profane, as if her life depended on it. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Dave McGinnAug 24, 2017
Patti Cake$ for the most part avoids feeling like a song you've heard before. It's too big-hearted and genuine not to love. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 24, 2017
Patti Cake$ winds up being a celebration of art, enterprise and self-invention that’s as tough as it is touching. At the risk of mixing metaphors, not to mention musical genres, it rocks. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzAug 18, 2017
What elevates it and makes it special is the attention it pays to local geography and atmosphere, the mundane aspects of working-class Northeastern U.S. life, and the culturally super-specific types of people you'll find in that environment Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 17, 2017
It’s festooned with so many triumph-of-the-underdog clichés (including a climax you can see driving down the Garden State Parkway from a mile away), it’s like déja-vu with a breakbeat. The most remarkable thing about the film is how little you’ll actually mind by the end. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonAug 17, 2017
Patti Cake$, in the end, is a little pat, but it doesn’t take its underdog, band-of-misfits formula too far, and Macdonald’s infectious grit carries the day. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 17, 2017
The film ticks a lot of boxes. Underdog triumph. Showbiz triumph. Working-class heroics. Flagrant, often effective filmmaking technique, from a first-time feature writer-director, Geremy Jasper. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 14, 2017
Macdonald is an absolute force as the twentysomething Patricia Dombrowski, who wakes up every morning determined and upbeat, even though her life path already looks to be a series of dead ends. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 24, 2017
It’s a real crowd-pleaser, and I hope a lot of people will be inspired by its mixture of grittiness and uplift. But it also demonstrates that showbiz go-for-it stories are more alike than unalike, even when they have a vivid countercultural vibe and feature actors who don’t conform to (Hollywood white male) studio ideals. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 24, 2017
The cast, in particular Macdonald and Everett, rise above. However gritty the film may be, you want the best for these characters. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 17, 2017
Patti Cake$ motors along steadily on Macdonald's unsentimental charisma. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoAug 17, 2017
Patti Cake$ is a feel-good freestyle phenom that heals through artistic passion and shrugs of wackness, indulgent in highs but not shying away from crushing lows. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 17, 2017
The movie is a canny mixture of flash and grit, an unabashedly contrived Cinderella story in Dirty Jersey drag. And in Macdonald’s winning performance, it gets the hoop-earringed, heavy-set, frizzy-blond princess-to-be it deserves. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 17, 2017
Ms. Macdonald is quite simply a revelation, capturing the reflexive self-confidence and defensive diffidence of the millennial generation with sneaky sincerity and offhand wit. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe DziemianowiczAug 16, 2017
Danielle Macdonald is irresistible as Patti Cake$, a dreamer with ambition and talent and visions so glorious, liberating and uplifting that they make her walk on air. The final moments were euphoric enough to make me float out of the theater. Read full review
70
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanAug 16, 2017
What sets it apart from other overpraised festival indies is its tremendously gifted lead. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 24, 2017
Patti Cake$ treads familiar territory while also presenting something fresh and original. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianMar 5, 2017
The obstacles and opportunities that Patti encounters are often rote, but her struggles and triumphs are detailed with a gravity that honors and elucidates her feelings. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 16, 2017
There’s no cliché so corny that Patti Cake$ won’t exploit it for our approval. Read full review
50
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerJan 28, 2017
Patti Cake$ is a rags-to-riches story that too often comes off as a carbon copy of other, similar rags-to-riches stories. Read full review
50
The Film StageJordan RaupJan 28, 2017
While there’s an infectious energy to the process of musical creation and an impressive lead performance from newcomer Danielle MacDonald, the feature debut of Geremy Jasper is ultimately hindered by predictable story beats and a cynical outlook at the world it’s capturing. Read full review
41
Paste MagazineJacob OllerAug 15, 2017
Patti Cake$ clearly loves music, but fails to translate that into a compelling narrative. It’s an album filled mostly with half-baked skits. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonAug 15, 2017
“The white Precious,” as one rival calls her, may be trying to master a musical genre known for ingenious metaphors and similes, but Patti Cake$ rarely rises above the literal. Read full review
40
The New YorkerRichard BrodyAug 14, 2017
Jasper hits every note of sentimental manipulation in a tale that’s as fleetingly affecting as it is insubstantial and mechanical. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 14, 2017
Patti Cake$ is by no means a hopelessly bad movie, it’s just hampered by its desperate need to be a crowd-pleaser. Read full review
More From This Movie

67 Critic Reviews

7.3 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 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL