If not for the presence of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Black Nativity would likely be an easily tossed away film for anyone.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 3, 2020

We're in that strange area where a film balances between two opposite ends: it's impossible to hate, but really tough to love

| Original Score: B- | Jul 28, 2020

To wrap up, Black Nativity isn't the best holiday film we have this season and probably won't clean up at the cinema because in the end it's just a quite average movie.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 11, 2020

Even though the principal (and poignant) message of forgiveness eventually wins through, the melodrama endured to get there is a high price to pay.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 6, 2019

I'm just going to describe the experience as Lemmons-esque, the result of a fearless and passionate dreamer whose deeper imaginative realms have become recognizable in her work.

| Aug 20, 2018

Even though Black Nativity feels a little cluttered early on, a strong third act leaves the audience with the clarity of a more satisfying high note (and I mean that literally; a cover of the Stevie Wonder classic "As" plays over the closing credits).

| Nov 29, 2017

"Black Nativity," loosely based on a play by Langston Hughes, is brought beautifully to life by writer/director Kasi Lemmons, a true auteur in every sense of the word.

| Sep 16, 2017

Black Nativity is a jubilant experience.

| Mar 21, 2017

Some devices don't work as well as others, however Kasi Lemmons has made a film that lives and breathes, even if it at times it doesn't work

| Original Score: B | Jun 21, 2016

To call it preachy isn't necessarily a critique; the entire film is essentially built around a closing sermon.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 23, 2014

Defiantly simple, like earlier stage pageants based on Langston Hughes' Christmas play, Kasi Lemmons' "Black Nativity" gains power through its directness.

| Apr 7, 2014

Jennifer Hudson sings like an angel but the movie is not up to that level storywise.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Dec 12, 2013

This story of seasonal healing ultimately feels too predictable and heavy-handed to bring much uplifting Christmas cheer.

| Dec 11, 2013

All of Black Nativity proceeds with sort of clumsy obviousness.

| Dec 10, 2013

To my eyes, Black Nativity is the cinematic equivalent of a Christmas tree ornament: shiny, hollow, sheathed in decorative, artificial linings, mass-produced and, given the cost of today's movie theater tickets, overpriced.

| Dec 9, 2013

By the time the credits rolled, my eyes were sore from all the rolling.

| Dec 9, 2013

You'd have to be pretty full of seasonal humbug to resist this ...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 8, 2013

Hudson's singing and Whitaker's acting compensate somewhat, but for a truly inventive and uplifting African-American piece set in New York during the Yuletide season, skip Black Nativity and watch Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" music video instead.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 6, 2013

An inept, often ludicrous, take on Langston Hughes' 1961 musical-play.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 6, 2013

Whitaker's performance is one of only a few positives, as a film that ends on such an illusory, elaborate and downright absurd finale.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 6, 2013