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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
29
Mixed:
24
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews
Mar 22, 2021
Season 3 Review:
Aretha is an uneven yet largely thoughtful, gripping and visually stunning portrait of a generational talent. Its sensitive, though not hagiographic, narrative illuminates a superstar with a widely beloved body of work but a poorly understood biography and inner life.
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Mar 15, 2021
Season 3 Review:
Understanding Franklin’s familial relationships are key to her music and her life, but the layers upon layers of context can make some segments drag. This is a dilemma most biopics face, however, and Aretha makes up for it with a bevy of whip-smart performers and breathtaking melodic sequences.
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Apr 23, 2018
Season 2 Review:
We’ve all heard the names of the series’ subjects so far (and next year’s subject, author Mary Shelley), and may know something about them — perhaps a lot about them. But the addition of solid performances and attention to production details of setting, design and costumes enhances our knowledge and goes a long way toward making us want to know--and see--more.
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Apr 25, 2017
Apr 20, 2017
Season 1 Review:
It feels like the producers didn’t trust that we would pay attention to Genius without some blood and nudity thrown in. But we would, actually, thanks to the stellar performances from Rush and Flynn. Both actors combine to bring a legendary genius vividly to life in a way that we’ve never seen on screen before.
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Mar 22, 2021
Season 3 Review:
In Erivo's hands the musical sequences soar, and enough of such scenes run throughout these eight hours to make the show worth devouring whole. But it's not an entirely satisfying experience because this third "Genius" suffers from the same core problem as the Picasso and Einstein seasons, which is that we see little to nothing that illuminates source of Aretha's genius.
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Mar 18, 2021
Season 3 Review:
["Genius: Aretha"] has an argument, and an opportunity to shake up the format. It does — sometimes. The new “Genius” spends most of its time in routine music-biopic mode: exposition, childhood traumas, historical checkpoints. But in the moments when it finds its groove, thanks to Erivo’s incandescent performance and its insight into Franklin’s process, it socks it to us. ... “Aretha” is a vibrant effort to give her artistry some R-E-S-P-E-C-T, even if we don’t entirely find out what it means to her.
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TV Guide MagazineMar 15, 2021
Season 3 Review:
Erivo sustains a quiet strength in dramatic scenes that erupts into passionate fire when she's onstage or in the recording studio. ... [The writing] frequently lapses into fawning biopic cliche. ... To its credit, Genius doesn't present its legendary subject as a saint. [15-28 Mar 2021, p.10]
Mar 15, 2021
Season 3 Review:
Erivo does a more than credible job of imitating Franklin’s voice, and producer Raphael Saadiq recreates the sounds of those records, too. But the ongoing unhappiness shown in adult Aretha threatens to turn her into someone you’d hardly want to spend too much time with, which is the exact opposite of the impression Franklin always gave.
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TV Guide MagazineApr 12, 2018
Season 2 Review:
The marquee star (Antonio Banderas, channeling an Anthony Quinn-like virility as the established maestro) risks being upstaged by the lesser-known actor (Alex Rich) who plays his younger self in vivid flashbacks. ... Seeing this world through his eyes, we're afforded a tantalizing taste of genius. [16 Apr - 29 Apr 2018, p.13]
Feb 1, 2024
Season 4 Review:
More than anything, “MLK/X” exhibits a clear desire to humanize its subjects, conveying the men, women and personal sacrifices behind the myths and legends. While it generally succeeds on that level, the denseness of that history comes at the expense of slowing its march.
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The Daily BeastJan 25, 2024
Season 4 Review:
While Genius is a handsome lecture (going beyond generous casting choices that rival Dominic West as Prince Charles in The Crown), it’s a lecture nonetheless. To that end, it will be most illuminating to those wanting to learn all about two of the most significant Black figures of the 20th century.
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Mar 19, 2021
Season 3 Review:
It’s an informative, at times illuminating — if also sketchy and in some respects superficial — jog through the life of the woman crowned the Queen of Soul by a Chicago disc jockey in 1967, a crown she never took off, however much public tastes and the music business changed around her: American royalty.
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Apr 17, 2018
Season 2 Review:
The problem is one of focus. The show isn’t “Genius: Picasso and Pals”; it’s about one man, one genius. As the show’s attention spreads, Genius increasingly feels like an ensemble series. Unfortunately, with so few episodes, and two different timelines to progress through, side stories feel like distractions from the core idea of the season. When Picasso is at the forefront, though, Genius is impressive.
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ColliderApr 25, 2017
Season 1 Review:
Having only seen these two hours, it’s hard to know how the series will proceed, though it is much more promising after the second installment. The series is at its best, rather ironically, when it’s not dealing with time (or jumping through it) and focuses on smaller, human moments rather than broad strokes from history.
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Apr 21, 2017
Season 1 Review:
[Ron Howard's] segment is an ungraceful arrangement of exposition and too-convenient characterizations. This becomes even more obvious when we reach episode 2, directed by British TV vet Minkie Spiro, which spends most of its time on the young Einstein and his first wife and co-genius Mileva Maric (Samantha Colley), turning her into an enthralling heroine and their relationship into something moving and fierce.
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TV Guide MagazineApr 13, 2017
Season 1 Review:
Genius may not entirely avoid the hokey pitfalls of the biopic genre, but it makes you feel smart for watching. [17-30 Apr 2017, p.19]
Mar 19, 2021
Season 3 Review:
When it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s a program worthy of its subject matter. However, a messy first half can make for difficult viewing. If you’re a casual Franklin fan, there are better biopic option. But if you’re a diehard, “Genius: Aretha” is still worth a look.
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Mar 19, 2021
Season 3 Review:
“Genius: Aretha,” an eight-part miniseries about legendary performer Aretha Franklin, gets many important things right: a powerhouse central performance, mesmerizing musical numbers and impressive re-creations of the 1960s. But an overburdened story line and inconsistent character development prevent the National Geographic project from being the showstopper that it sets out to be.
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Mar 12, 2021
Season 3 Review:
Pretty much all of these [song performances] — along with Clarence’s thunderous sermons — are energetic show-stoppers, which ensure that, at least within each episode, Aretha never flags. ... Erivo and Vance make for a powerhouse duo, mostly compensating for Barrett’s confusingly goofy demeanor and Cross’ inability to disappear into his role. But even they can’t make up for the fact that the repetitive dialogue and over-emphatic direction seem designed for viewers who are only half-watching.
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Apr 23, 2018
Season 2 Review:
If you don’t mind its superficialities, Genius can be enjoyed for its surface attributes, including Mr. Banderas’s impressive makeup and expectedly seductive performance. (If he suffers in comparison to Mr. Rush, it’s because the show’s conception of Einstein, focused less on seduction, was more interesting.)
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Apr 19, 2018
Season 2 Review:
An extravaganza of exhausting time shifts and mind-numbing dialogue that can use all the sympathy it gets. When the drama comes vividly alive, as it does often enough, the subject is seldom art. It’s almost always Picasso (a seductive if also largely unknowable character in Antonio Banderas’s subtle portrayal) and the women who loved him: women he loved and needed in turn and in time betrayed and abandoned.
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Apr 24, 2017IndieWireApr 23, 2018
Season 2 Review:
In the end, Genius: Picasso remains a minor effort all around. It moves so quickly and summarizes so much, it’s hard to trust anything but the most basic aspects of the story. Even the art is relegated to the background, as the series highlights only one painting in the first four hours.
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IndieWireFeb 1, 2024
Season 4 Review:
If you’re utterly ignorant of America’s original sin — or somehow think Republicans are here to help rectify it — then perhaps “MLK/X” will pass along some meaningful knowledge. But as it stands, these eight hours would be better spent with any number of related projects.
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RogerEbert.comJan 25, 2024
ColliderApr 24, 2018
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