| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 19, 2002

Lacks the magnificence of his book, but it is worth seeing.

| Jan 1, 2000

There's a compelling momentum to Angela's Ashes, Alan Parker's very faithful, if poetically subordinate, version of McCourt's book, which imposed elegance on squalor and intelligence on the indolence cultivated by poverty.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

Despite its harsh scenes, Angela's Ashes will leave you with lovely memories.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

The film lacks development and dramatic coherence.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

There is in the film a beauty and ambition rare in most current movies.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Probably (Alan Parker's) best movie after The Commitments.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

For all its fidelity to the spirit and, in extended passages, to the letter of McCourt's book, however, Parker's film falls short.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 1, 2000

I'm sure the producers of Angela's Ashes meant well, but they got the wrong guy to direct it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Jan 1, 2000

The film isn't wrenching enough to do it justice.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 1, 2000

The film is too often trapped in its own reverence and solemnity.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Visually immaculate but unaffecting.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

As well-crafted and sensitive as it is, the movie remains one step removed from inspiration.

| Jan 1, 2000

Parker has honored the core of the work and in the process turned a great memoir into a memorable movie.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

Angela's Ashes doesn't work as entertainment, and since it doesn't cure anything, it can't qualify as medicine, either.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 1, 2000

The story of Frank McCourt's triumph makes it to the screen intact. It's the lyricism, the heartbeat, that seem to be missing.

| Jan 1, 2000

The result is a movie of great craft and wonderful images, lacking a heart.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Of course, the movie is a thinner version of the novel, but you still get a drama that has you laughing and brokenhearted, often at the same time.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

Mostly misses the humor, lyricism and emotional charge of Frank McCourt's magical and magnificent memoir.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000