HBO | Release Date: September 11, 1993
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerJohn EngstromJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: Stunning. [9 Sept 1993, p.C1]
100
Chicago Sun-TimesGinny HolbertJun 16, 2015
Season 1 Review: The film is certainly a virtuous, star-studded message movie. It's also a docudrama, with all the attendant questions about the fictionalization of facts. But it transcends that by being complicated, intelligent and vibrant. Without a trace of sentimentality, it is very moving. [8 Sept 1993, p.49]
90
NewsdayMarvin KitmanJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: Hip deep in all the chicken droppings about the movie, you would hardly know that it's a damn good movie. [9 Sept 1993, p.109]
90
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: Enthralling, must-see television. [10 Sept 1993, p.6EV]
90
Miami HeraldHal BoedekerJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: Swift pacing energizes the movie, and Schulman writes compelling scenes for the large cast. Many actors, who have only one scene to make an impression, meet the challenge splendidly. [11 Sept 1993, p.G1]
80
Cleveland Plain DealerTom FeranJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: It's an ambitious and engrossing combination of mystery story and medical drama - and a powerful reminder that docudramas can be more than true-crime sleaze. [11 Sept 1993, p.1E]
75
San Diego Union-TribuneRobert P. LaurenceJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: Suffers from excessive ambition, but only through the best of intentions. [10 Sept 1993, p.E-1]
70
Chicago TribuneRick KoganJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: A fine film but one lacking an emotional punch commensurate with its subject. [10 Sept 1993, p.N-1]
50
Boston HeraldMonica CollinsJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: The most discouraging aspect of the film is the fact that we can never latch onto these characters in any warm, intimate or sympathetic way. They stand as ciphers in the larger steely drama. [10 Sept 1993, p.]
40
USA TodayMatt RoushJun 16, 2015
Season 1 Review: The storytelling is too diffuse. At times, it's a medical mystery, with Matthew Modine the outspoken lead researcher manning an obstacle course of financial and bureaucratic Catch-22s. Other times, it's obvious agitprop targeting an uncaring Reagan administration and, in a devastating character assassination, self-promoting Dr. Robert Gallo (Alan Alda).[10 Sept 1993, p.1D]
30
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: A stiff, one-dimensional portrait of America's early plague years. Flattened by docudramatic techniques and good-versus-evil oversimplifications, the film is politically correct, easy to follow and emotionally empty. Rather than risking gritty personal drama and fully drawn characters, the filmmakers have fashioned a public-health mystery that surveys all the moral and political issues, but never hits harder than a Newsweek cover story. [10 Sept 1993, p.45]