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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
7
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews
Mar 19, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Fresh, lively and fast-paced period drama. ... Spencer’s performance is dazzling. ... “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker” isn’t just a wonderful tribute to yet another unsung hero — it’s an engrossing and uplifting series that shines light in otherwise dark times.
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RogerEbert.comMar 27, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The series is a smart, genuine portrayal of a venerable figure. “Self Made” is equal parts an entertaining account of the first woman millionaire, and a sharp critique of the margins along which Black people endure in a long history of systemic racism and gender-based oppression.
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Mar 23, 2020
Season 1 Review:
It is decidedly an old-school, good-time miniseries dropped into a world that will measure it by upper-crusty limited series standards. It also confidently strides through such nagging issues as colorism, class discrimination, and sexism black people visited upon each other in post-slavery, pre-Gilded Age America, all while it caresses, thoughtfully, the complex social and personal issues wrapped up in the relationship between black dignity and our hair, and the impossible, ugly beauty standards erected as an obstacle to opportunity.
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Mar 20, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Walker's life is, clearly, a story worth telling, and as basically a longish movie split into four chapters, it's a reasonably concise package. It just could have been made in a way that would have more fully branded this inspirational biography as a miniseries worth watching.
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ColliderMar 20, 2020
The GuardianMar 20, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Nicole Asher’s script does a solid job at squeezing the many details of Walker’s life into four entertaining episodes but the directors, including Harriet’s Kasi Lemmons, don’t always hit the mark. There are attempts to enliven the by-the-numbers biopic-plotting with stylish flourishes but they’re mostly always misses. ... It’s ultimately, thankfully, Spencer’s show.
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Mar 20, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The show explores how Black men have told Black women to wait their turn in line, and takes a big swing at one Black leader’s history. The mapping of these issues is so blatant, they can be seen coming a mile away, but they’re managed with such enthusiasm that it’s almost endearing.
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Mar 19, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Unfortunately, the inspiration inherent in Walker’s story is in short supply in the script. ... Spencer’s intelligent, restrained performance is faultless but a little dry — with the exception of one early scene in which the tyranny of light skin and straight hair bring Walker to tears, she doesn’t really grab us. Ejogo, on the other hand, is fully alive as the O.M.G. (original mean girl) Munroe.
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Mar 19, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The talented cast can’t overcome dialogue that can be painfully stiff (“Your impeccable reputation precedes you”) or anachronistic (“on the regular,” “lying-ass liar”) but is uniformly painful. ... Normally, a show this bad would at least be amusing to watch. But when you consider the richness of the subject and the larger issues it raises—the politics of black hair, Walker’s anti-lynching work, sexism and colorism in the black community—its incompetence is just depressing.
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