Angela's Ashes: Critic Reviews

Angela's Ashes is the soggiest dud of all the major holiday releases.

Probably (Alan Parker's) best movie after The Commitments.

Of course, the movie is a thinner version of the novel, but you still get a drama that has you laughing and brokenhearted, often at the same time.

The film is too often trapped in its own reverence and solemnity.

The film lacks development and dramatic coherence.

For all its fidelity to the spirit and, in extended passages, to the letter of McCourt's book, however, Parker's film falls short.

Mostly misses the humor, lyricism and emotional charge of Frank McCourt's magical and magnificent memoir.

Watson, the queen of suffering-female roles, is as good as ever.

Visually immaculate but unaffecting.

I'm sure the producers of Angela's Ashes meant well, but they got the wrong guy to direct it.

The story of Frank McCourt's triumph makes it to the screen intact. It's the lyricism, the heartbeat, that seem to be missing.

Primitive peoples, or so it's said, resist being photographed, believing that the creation of an image robs them of their souls. A quaint notion, perhaps, but how else can you explain what's happened to Angela's Ashes?

A tedious, vastly disappointing film that does not do justice to the wonderful and touching book upon which it is based.

Sometimes humorous and wholly inspiring tale.

I enjoyed the relentless gloomy realism, the refusal to put a happy face on McCourt's miserable childhood.

Misses the mark as an exceptional drama yet manages to vividly convey the soul-shattering effects of poverty.

Like bread without yeast, 'Angela's Ashes' minus the author's wit can't rise to meet expectations.

A dreary, ultimately punishing adaptation of Frank McCourt's memoir, where every other scene has somebody either getting sick, puking or dying.

I am pleased to announce that this film is a fine, a beautiful presentation of a painful story.

Alan Parker logra uno de sus mejores trabajos en lo que es un tributo al espiritu humano que ofrece lo mejor de si en medio de las peores adversidades

a long, exhausting, almost completely humorless chronicle of misery, shame, and hardship

All this misery crammed into 145 minutes makes for one rough sit.

I'm not sorry I saw it, but I wouldn't see it again.

This one will disappoint fans of the book and repulse those who have not read it.

Like a good potato, Angela's Ashes is heavy on the starch and light on the protein.