American Violet 2008

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: 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. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: 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. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: You can laugh at American Violet, but most defendants are scared into pleading guilty and need all the poster girls they can get. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: While it may be about as subtle as a swinging sledgehammer, it does leave its mark. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The film is more affecting than it ought to be, thanks to a loaded cast that includes Alfre Woodard, Tim Blake Nelson, Will Patton, Charles Dutton, and the rapper and sometime actor Xzibit. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: American Violet feels less like life and unreasonably more like the movies. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The narrative is infused with chilling facts, and the filmmakers know how to build their case, but a drama demands more. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: 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. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: A conventional but wholly gripping docudrama. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: 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. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A well-played if too-familiar story of oppression and injustice. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: An artlessly powerful performance by newcomer Nicole Behaire anchors American Violet, an instructive, sturdily built drama based on a true story worth teaching. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: American Violet is a justice story, with some honest justice. It's nicely reassuring that it happens to be true. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: 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. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: 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. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: 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. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: 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. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A docudrama that may have an outcome we already know, but is a loud lesson about truth, justice and the Texas Way. Read more

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle: 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. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: 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. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: A docudrama with a good heart but a heavy hand. Read more