Bessie is a biopic worthy of its subject.

| Sep 26, 2022

This gritty biography... celebrates the singer's extraordinary talent and confronts the prejudices of the era that stood in her way.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 9, 2021

Queen Latifah ever so capably maneuvers Bessie from any sort of static strong-Black-woman archetype and weaves a palpable vulnerability, an ache for love, into her portrayal and it's glorious.

| Aug 12, 2021

It's an unforgettable journey.

| May 26, 2020

[Bessie] is a story we've seen before, complete with feathers, spangles, and bootleg liquor as the action meanders through the 1920s, but a script about a queer Black woman (Smith was bisexual) by an out queer Black woman who also directed is unusual.

| Mar 8, 2019

Queen Latifah is convincing as Bessie.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 13, 2017

Gritty biopic has sex, violence, drinking, great music.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 15, 2016

Bessie shows us an assortment of moments from that life but doesn't really make us feel it, despite Queen Latifah's best efforts.

| Dec 3, 2015

It fleshes out Bessie Smith to a degree but certainly not in full measure. Latifah and Rainey can sure sing out, though. It's a pleasure to watch and hear them wail in a film that otherwise doesn't quite cut it.

| Original Score: B- | Dec 3, 2015

Well-made biopic absent a whole lot of music and -- as a result -- much emotional resonance.

| Original Score: B- | Dec 3, 2015

Bessie isn't a perfect movie. But for HBO's purposes, it's a big-time noisemaker - one with the kind of show-stopping work that, when they start handing out trophies, isn't likely to leave its star singin' the blues.

| Dec 3, 2015

Bessie boasts powerful performances and a chance to hear the early blues popularized by Smith and her mentor, Ma Rainey.

| Dec 3, 2015

A thoughtful and at times stirring example of how a film can add texture to a legendary figure.

| Dec 3, 2015

Bessie Smith, who earned the title "Empress of the Blues" back in the 1920s, remains a voice that should be heard today.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 3, 2015

A beautifully affecting biopic.

| Dec 3, 2015

It takes just the first few raunchy and emotionally searing minutes of "Bessie" to grasp why Queen Latifah-its star and one of its producers-viewed this story of Bessie Smith's life and career as a labor of love, or more precisely, passion.

| Dec 3, 2015

Queen Latifah delivers a rich, full-throated performance as the Empress of the Blues.

| Dec 3, 2015

Despite its complicated central figure, Rees' film feels all too typical in the end. The small moments are there for anyone who wants to find them, but they're not enough to make "Bessie" as great as the woman herself.

| Original Score: B | Jun 4, 2015

Presents the powerhouse vocalist as a blues belter in more ways than one -- a pugnacious scrapper with a fierce streak of racial pride, a sexual appetite that crossed gender lines and a hair-trigger temper that sometimes served her well...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 2, 2015

... give Bessie a try ... to see Queen Latifah's performance and learn a bit about Bessie Smith's life and times, and turn in off if and when it starts to drag.

| May 23, 2015