Focuses on solving problems rather than assigning blame.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 27, 2020

A film of bumper sticker emotions, rather than ideas that might actually be helpful.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 6, 2019

This is a gripping story, with only a few moments of awkwardness as policy details and pros and cons are explained.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 20, 2018

Gyllenhaal and Davis make a good team. The former is impulsive and enthusiastic, displaying an undefeatable determination. Davis is cautious and reserved, providing a balance and check to her partner in change.

| Oct 20, 2018

It's all way too much and perhaps the most troubling aspect is that it casts the teachers' union as the villain.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 1, 2017

This film is worth a watch -- and a debate afterwards.

| Oct 7, 2016

"Won't Back Down" packs a punch and it deserves to be seen, no matter one's political persuasion.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2016

Funded by conservative Christian billionaire Phil Anschutz and released by rightwing overlord Rupert Murdoch, it attempts to fashion a feel-good family-friendly triumph of union busting and privatization.

Full Review | May 3, 2015

While the story is predictable, it compensates for that with great acting and a noble purpose.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 30, 2013

A do-gooder movie so stupid and unoriginal it had to steal its title from a Tom Petty song.

| Original Score: D- | May 26, 2013

'Dumbing down' a film about educational reform defeats any point; while proficiently made, Won't Back Down's glib feel-good message deserves to fall on deaf ears.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 29, 2013

As terrible as it sounds.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 28, 2013

An altogether crude, melodramatic and unhelpful picture.

| Jan 27, 2013

More anti-union propaganda masquerading as entertainment.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 25, 2013

All efforts to add zest to a serious subject fail.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 24, 2013

A straight-talking, partisan account about the failings of a broken system and a band of women who argued for better for their children.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 24, 2013

It is well meant, undoubtedly about something that matters, and it bends over backwards not to trash the teachers' unions gratuitously, but amid the attempts at gritty reality, I found the happy-ending imperative unconvincing.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 24, 2013

The forces of unionism are mainly pilloried as lazy sell-outs, which is a pity, because a lot of other tangy issues come into play here.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 24, 2013

Emotionally engaging drama that compensates for its predictability with a pair of terrific performances by Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, though it's also a little fuzzy on the actual details.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 24, 2013

Shamelessly manipulative, this propagandist drama purports to champion the democratisation of parents' choice yet is little more than a big, cinematic union bashing stick.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 23, 2013