A sense of déjà vu hangs heavy over the movie's every frame.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 2, 2021

This quality drama about the all-consuming nature of fame desperately aspired to - and then precariously achieved - deserved to find a much wider audience upon original release.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 14, 2020

The movie takes audiences from loud, sexy, music videos to the quietness of two people falling in love over a box of old song lyrics, all without missing a beat.

| Mar 31, 2020

What could have been a worn-out 'been there, done that' story in the hands of a lesser director, thanks to [Gina] Prince-Bythewood, there is an integrity and intelligence that elevates the characters and the film as a whole.

| Dec 14, 2019

A showbiz romantic melodrama that could have maintained an all-too familiar narrative and tone if it weren't for the freshness of its perspective and a vibrant performance from lead Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 12, 2019

It just works.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 30, 2019

Beyond The Lights gives the audience many other simple pleasures and, at least for its duration, makes us wonder what else we could ever want from the movies.

| Mar 12, 2019

...the film is a deeply effective and provocative look at the demands fame makes on women-but then Kaz shows up...and the whole thing turns into a rote love story.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 25, 2018

This film's got all the elements to make it a wide-release hit, a stunning lead couple, some catchy-if-a-little-cringey tunes, a good bit of social commentary for good measure and an outlandish dream-like love story.

| Aug 24, 2018

It is an interesting film but the romantic sub-plot detracted from what could have been an interesting independent film.

| Aug 22, 2018

Although the intrigue and intensity waxes and wanes, it is a decent film about love, overbearing mothers, and the cost of fortune and fame.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 21, 2018

It might be a broad stereotype, but that side of the pond tends to produce very well-trained, versatile thespians.

| Aug 20, 2018

Boasts a conventional narrative structure with all the markings of a typically frothy romantic drama. Yet the script continually scrapes back the sleekly finished surface to reveal a hidden treasure of emotional depth and meaning.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 13, 2018

It's not enough to compel cynics like myself, but it will likely touch the heart of romantics everywhere.

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 1, 2017

When was the last time you saw an earnest, honest-to-god romance that wasn't drippy, Nicholas Sparks fare?

| Aug 14, 2017

You'll walk away from this film lighthearted and wanting to hold someone's hand.

| Mar 21, 2017

Every time you want to hoot and dismiss this movie, the next moment it grabs you. Guilty pleasure. Good storytelling. Lurve. Gugu Mbatha-Raw. A star is born.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 7, 2016

A carefully calculated romantic drama that spins out the usual manifestos about the music industry devouring pretty young singers yearning for acceptance.

| Original Score: B | Feb 26, 2016

The type of mainstream, commercial romance that's increasingly rare: one that never loses sight of actual tangible pain and hope in its beautifully portrayed characters.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 23, 2015

Smart and passionate, this is one of the ultimate Hollywood fantasies: an adult romance performed by gorgeous actors with palpable onscreen chemistry.

| Feb 28, 2015