American Violet

Critic Reviews

While it may be about as subtle as a swinging sledgehammer, it does leave its mark.

A well-played if too-familiar story of oppression and injustice.

A conventional but wholly gripping docudrama.

American Violet dramatizes Kelly's case, and does so in a way that will leave audiences applauding in their seats -- and wondering how much of the film is true.

-Jonathan CurielFull Review

Director Tim Disney and screenwriter Bill Haney lay out Dee's story with a minimum of fuss. They are smart enough to realize that the material is compelling all on its own.

-Peter RainerFull Review

A torn-from-the-headlines tale of institutional racism and injustice in the Lone Star State of not-so-long-ago, American Violet might not be subtle, but it's certainly powerful.

-Steven ReaFull Review

American Violet feels less like life and unreasonably more like the movies.

-Wesley MorrisFull Review

The narrative is infused with chilling facts, and the filmmakers know how to build their case, but a drama demands more.

-Betsy SharkeyFull Review

This flaw in the justice system might affect anyone, but American Violet shows how easily it can be racialized in a place where hardened social attitudes combine with drugs and poverty to create a permanent black underclass.

-J. R. JonesFull Review

Its blaring earnestness and thin characters (all of whom practically wear badges identifying them as good or evil) fail to add nuance to a story that keeps making the same point in virtually every predictable scene.

-Kyle SmithFull Review

The badly titled American Violet comes from filmmakers who had clearly made up their minds long before they had written a word. And it's aimed at people who have too, before they've seen a frame.

-Stephen WhittyFull Review

American Violet is a justice story, with some honest justice. It's nicely reassuring that it happens to be true.

-John AndersonFull Review

American Violet, which is based on real events that took place in late 2000, has the quasi-documentary feel of a well-made television drama.

-Stephen HoldenFull Review

What does it taste like? There's a slight aftertaste of force-feeding, to be sure. But mostly, thanks to excellent, nuanced performances by Beharie, Woodard, Nelson and Patton, it tastes like justice.

-Michael O'SullivanFull Review

A docudrama that may have an outcome we already know, but is a loud lesson about truth, justice and the Texas Way.

-Roger EbertFull Review

An artlessly powerful performance by newcomer Nicole Behaire anchors American Violet, an instructive, sturdily built drama based on a true story worth teaching.

-Lisa SchwarzbaumFull Review

A harrowing, compelling and profoundly true story that dares to tackle an important but too rarely exposed issue of the abuse of power in the American criminal justice system.

-Rex ReedFull Review

A docudrama with a good heart but a heavy hand.

-Melissa AndersonFull Review

You can laugh at American Violet, but most defendants are scared into pleading guilty and need all the poster girls they can get.

-David EdelsteinFull Review

Its simplistic, heavy handed treatment of a complex issue gives it the weight of a contrived movie of the week melodrama.

-Sura Wood

Earnestly presented and well acted, particularly by newcomer Nicole Beharie in the central role, the film shares with many other such agenda-driven dramas a complete lack of narrative surprise, merely connecting the dots.

-Todd McCarthyFull Review

Less a social-problem film than a drama of personal courage.

-Kelly VanceFull Review

Nicole. Beharie. Remember the name, for if her stunning lead turn is any indication, huge things are in the future.

-Michael DequinaFull Review

[American Violet] is so compelling and intriguing that it's easy for the audience to forget they're being preached to.

-Sonny BunchFull Review

Put on your outrage cap.

-Robert W. Butler

It does almost everything well, from the direction to the performances. But it does nothing great, dragged down by an uninspired, and oddly uninspiring, script.

-Mike ScottFull Review

Newcomer Beharie gives a polished performance that deserves awards consideration.

-Keith CohenFull Review

It's not enough for a movie to have a Black cast for it to be good, it must have good writing, engaging stories and impassioned actors. This film has all three.

-Clay CaneFull Review

American Violet is an earnest muckraker about the justice system that won't win points for style, but wins plenty for substance.

-Gary ThompsonFull Review

Movingly told and packed with powerful subject matter.

-Marjorie BaumgartenFull Review

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Audience

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