With solid performances across the whole cast, Concrete Cowboy is a grounded, authentic tribute to a subculture wrongfully ignored by history.

| Original Score: 7.5/10 | Jul 12, 2024

Concrete Cowboy holds a formulaic, unsurprising coming-of-age story that could have been more captivating had it focused on the main narrative.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 24, 2023

This is a film with a unique slice of life that has an authentic look and feel while telling a timeless story of fathers and sons.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 4, 2023

Cole's story runs parallel to the stable's to brilliant effect... [yet] the film dives into Western territory during the second half, and at times it does it well, but sometimes it gets lost along the way. [Full review in Spanish]

| Nov 2, 2022

The film’s predictability turns out to be its biggest weakness. Not a single plot point, story beat, or character angle will surprise you. Instead it’s the vibrant community setting that feels fresh and unexplored.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 17, 2022

Staub and Dan Walser largely avoid the hood clichés in showing how strangers can discover and come to respect each other over a fireside chat and John Coltrane.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 14, 2021

While it will recover community dignity and a lost history, and it will inspire, this beautifully shot, low-key feature could have done with a stronger story to match

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 30, 2021

Concrete Cowboy marks a spectacular directorial debut from Ricky Straub and features standout performances from Caleb McLaughlin and Idris Elba.

| Original Score: 9 | Jun 23, 2021

Concrete Cowboy never really engages on a deeper level, and ... suffers for its unimaginative, generic script.

| Jun 6, 2021

Concrete Cowboy is a well-done and timely coming of age film in the era of the Movement For Black Lives.

| May 25, 2021

Not quite a confounding film. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 17, 2021

Idris Elba doesn't do a lot of dramatic flexing here, the mark of a true artist in the prime of his career. He adds pathos when they aren't even required.

| Original Score: A- | May 14, 2021

A familiar tale of a boy and his horse is... no less hokey in Philadelphia than it would be in Billings. It does, however, have an intriguing narrative backdrop.

| Original Score: B- | May 8, 2021

Saddle up for a solid ride with 'Concrete Cowboy.'

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 7, 2021

Concrete Cowboy is at its best when we get to simply hang out with this crew at the stables,

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 5, 2021

Provides a very decent spotlight for a community suffering in modern times and delivers an equally decent movie out of it.

| Original Score: 7.5/10 | Apr 29, 2021

Concrete Cowboy, a wonderful Netflix film about a black teen named Cole who gets rescued from drug-dealing street life by his father's tough love, is an inspiring and beautiful story.

| Apr 28, 2021

Builds an entire world in the span of one corner of North Philadelphia, bringing to vivid life this culture of urban cowboys and those struggling to preserve it.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 26, 2021

This Eastern Western reveals a segment of Black history that most of us were not aware of. It's subculture-solid. Saddle up!

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 21, 2021

A compelling and beautifully rendered look at the subculture of Black horsemanship in North Philadelphia

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 16, 2021