Race
Focus Features | Release Date: February 19, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
18
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 18, 2016
This is a profound saga that makes for a great American movie. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniFeb 18, 2016
The film delivers what it promises - an education and a thrill. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittFeb 18, 2016
Race makes its title's double meaning all too clear, and at a time when the Oscars and movies, in general, struggle with finding racial balance, two guys of different skin colors coming together for some sports-movie magic is a fitting and truly welcoming lapping of the competition. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonFeb 18, 2016
James makes for a charismatic hero, and former “Saturday Night Live” star Sudeikis is a revelation as the steadfast Snyder. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChristian HolubFeb 18, 2016
Credit Race for showcasing its hero’s human flaws, but the movie unfortunately lets him get away with them a little too easily (his grand makeup gesture to Ruth comes off more creepy than romantic). Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenFeb 18, 2016
What the picture lacks is a certain spark. It’s a workmanlike effort that diligently covers a lot of bases...but never achieves a transcendence that befits a figure like Owens. Read full review
72
The VergeTasha RobinsonFeb 21, 2016
Race is exactly the kind of film the Academy loves to honor: bland, uplifting, respectable, engaged with historical social issues, but not too controversial or directly tied to the present. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenFeb 18, 2016
If Race is a standard inspirational biopic that exalts the legend of an athletic hero, at least it doesn’t soft-pedal the racism that Owens encountered at every turn. Read full review
70
TheWrapInkoo KangFeb 18, 2016
The Jesse Owens to cheer on here is, sure, the fastest man in the world, but also the canny would-be celebrity who knew exactly how to bet on himself in a world that had little use for his dignity and intellect. If that’s not an inspirational story, I don’t know what is. Read full review
67
ConsequenceBlake GobleFeb 18, 2016
Race is a film best enjoyed for its mild ambitions and accomplishments, which easily beat out its missteps. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 17, 2016
As Owens, relative newcomer Stephan James delivers a stirring performance, and as his coach, comedian Jason Sudeikis turns in a solid and smirk-free performance. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 20, 2016
Race, like "42," does a workmanlike job of bringing the lead character to life and explaining his historical importance, but it fails to transcend the genre. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorFeb 18, 2016
Having managed Berlin rather gracefully, Race often plods along the home front. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 18, 2016
Race is at its best when it fills in the corners of a story we only thought we knew. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonFeb 18, 2016
Race takes a complicated, messy story and shapes it with the bland cookie-cutter mold too often seen in the biopic genre. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 18, 2016
Hitler didn’t actually snub Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics, but the story is too good not to tell, so Race tells it anyway — adding the (true) detail that Owens was snubbed back home. By someone called “the White House,” because this supposedly truth-telling movie can’t bear to spell out the words Franklin D. Roosevelt. Read full review
63
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanFeb 18, 2016
The film is handsomely mounted and provides a window into the tough choices Owens faced, yet its dramatic licenses oversell its message. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenFeb 18, 2016
Owens’ triumph is long overdue for big-screen treatment, and director Stephen Hopkins delivers stirring moments amid the tension-free stretches, particularly once the action moves to Berlin. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerFeb 18, 2016
Stephen Hopkins’ film offers a safe, middlebrow slice of history that beats a snoozy lecture any day. Making a few admirable attempts to complicate what could have been a standard-issue inspirational sports narrative, Race is better than it has to be, but not by too much. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 25, 2016
Like a struggling sprinter, Stephen Hopkins' film suffers from wasted motion, too much going on. It's the difference between a merely competent movie and one justifying more discussion of Hollywood's commitment to reward diversity. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerFeb 18, 2016
The rest of Race has other moments of engagement in a slickly produced and watchable package. But ultimately, it offers history told as a series of passing anecdotes. Read full review
50
Village VoiceScott TobiasFeb 23, 2016
Were it not so committed to telling the official story in bullet points, Race might have found a more provocative angle about athletes and artists who work through and around the powers that be. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 23, 2016
An overlong, all-inclusive and all-too-tepid bio-pic of the great Olympian. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 22, 2016
As Jesse Owens, [James] mixes confidence, bewilderment, and subdued rage into a powerful whole. It’s not a big, show-offy performance. Quite the contrary: He’s surprisingly quiet, watchful. Everything seems to be submerged, but still present. Read full review
50
The Film StageMichael SnydelFeb 18, 2016
Race is the rare biopic that needs more of its own main character. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 18, 2016
Race wants so badly to get every last bit of the big picture that it dashes past the little details that actually tell a story. Like an over-trained athlete who pulls a hamstring in the big race, the movie tries to do it all and comes up short. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 18, 2016
There’s a memorable movie to be made about the amazing, inspiration and controversial life of Jesse Owens. This is not a bad film and it’s a decent history lesson for those that don’t know the story of Owens and the ’36 Games, but it’s a long, long way from greatness. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 18, 2016
Neither director Stephen Hopkins nor star Stephan James can bring Owens’ story to passionate life, resulting in a drama that’s well-meaning rather than riveting. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianFeb 18, 2016
This is a complication-smoothing take on Jesse Owens's elegant riposte to Hitler's racism at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 18, 2016
What's the point of telling Jesse Owens' story if you don't get into what made him tick, and drove his success as an athlete? Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezFeb 18, 2016
Race never delves under the skins of its characters, because they’re intended to be used only as symbols — reminders of an important chapter in history rendered quaint by this noble but patronizing movie. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 19, 2016
Race is the most timid, lackadaisical movie that could have been made out of potentially classic material. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 18, 2016
It's hard to escape the feeling that Hopkins left a lot on the table -- and that there's a better Jesse Owens film to be told. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 18, 2016
For all the luster of its subject, though, this earnest biopic lacks the spark of life. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Feb 18, 2016
A movie that really mined that story would be worth the gold. This one barely doesn’t even capture the bronze. Read full review
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