When discussing comedians who became dramatic actors, Oscar winners Robin Williams and Jamie Foxx come to mind, as do Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. But none had a more extreme transformation than Mo'Nique for Precious.

| Mar 31, 2020

This is either a good film with quite a few flaws, or a flawed film which is also quite good, but that's all right. None of us is perfect, after all.

| Aug 30, 2018

The performances of Sidibe and Mo'Nique are extraordinary and spellbinding.

| Jan 17, 2018

... Precious is a true story of survival and hope and not to be missed.

| Original Score: A | Sep 12, 2017

It is a classical tragedy in the Greek sense, and runs its characters (and viewers) through a wringer of pity and terror on the way to its devastating catharsis.

| Apr 4, 2011

The remarkable Sidibe is one of several daring casting choices by director Lee Daniels.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 4, 2011

Precious is an emotional powerhouse, a triumph of bruising humor and bracing hope that deserves its place among the year's best films.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 2, 2011

Precious is a triumph of the soul, a triumph of a film and a heart-warming story that will touch all but the toughest cynics.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 14, 2010

While it may not be perfect on a technical level, dramatically it's a blow-your-socks-off triumph. Be moved. Very, very moved.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 2, 2010

A film full of life and love, well-meaning and, judging by the reaction in the US, a genuine and important phenomenon that says act - don't dwell - on your dreams.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 2, 2010

Precious is a big-screen "misery memoir" that is so keen to trace the hellish pathology of familial abuse that it risks glorifying its own subject, or at least shooting it with horror-movie verve.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2010

It isn't the transcendent masterpiece that some admirers would have you believe: more like a black-comic nightmare that isn't exactly supposed to be funny. It's certainly arresting, though.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2010

It's enough to make you cry. Equally, it might make you laugh. Daniels is a director who would find it hard to imagine puddings can be over-egged, or that Monty Python's 'We're So Poor' sketch was meant to be funny.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 2, 2010

Employing a suitably chiaroscuro film language to balance the emotional extremes of the subject matter, his vision is a lively composite of urban nightmare and garish escapism.

Full Review | Feb 2, 2010

What is surprising about the film is the harshness with which her adverse conditions are depicted, and the tentativeness of her recovery.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 2, 2010

So staggering, in fact, are the offences to decency, loyalty and love that you begin to worry that the film will topple over from the weight of its woes.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2010

Precious is part pamphlet, part dramatised talk-show therapy - and to be fair, it's honest about its intentions. But as cinema, it's just really bad, strident pulp.

Full Review | Feb 2, 2010

Passionately told with bucketloads of compassion, this is a film that'll have you moaning 'no, no, no!'

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 2, 2010

If the director sometimes takes a sledgehammer to crack a nut, then all will be forgiven as you watch the story of Precious unfold.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 2, 2010

The most intense, intimate and inspirational film since Slumdog Millionaire.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 2, 2010