Music of the Heart: Critic Reviews

100%

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

62%

RottenTomatoes: 50 reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

34

There really is a Roberta Guaspari, but this dull, wanly repetitive teacher movie fails to bring her story to life.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Susan Wloszczyna USA Today (Top Critic)

75

To see Streep's prickly pear of an instructor blossom along with her struggling students is a rare joy.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jay Carr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

I've always had a soft spot for teacher movies, and this one is high on my list.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jessica Winter Village Voice (Top Critic)

Solid raw material, but the execution is overcooked: The kids are cutesy, and Meryl Streep as Roberta is hyperaddled and indecisive about which outer-borough accent to affect.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jeff Millar Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

For its first three laps, this inspirational - teacher movie moves too slowly, even with the head start I give inspirational - teacher movies.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Peter Rainer New York Magazine (Top Critic)

The tone of inspirational uplift is familiar from movies like Stand and Deliver and Mr. Holland's Opus -- which is to say, it's familiarly awful.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

88

One of the year's most heartfelt movies.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Susan Stark Detroit News (Top Critic)

75

A movie that tells a story not from some Hollywood swifty's febrile imagination, but rather from life.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

38

Overwrought tearjerker, directed without a shred of subtlety.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Tom Keogh Film.com (Top Critic)

It may be premature to think Craven just doesn't spark outside the horror genre, but there's nothing here to suggest the opposite.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Mary Elizabeth Williams Salon.com (Top Critic)

Another utterly bland lump of Hollywood crapola.
Full Review » 12 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

50

Music of the Heart is nothing if not a change of pace, and, unfortunately, Craven doesn't appear entirely comfortable in these new surroundings.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Derek Adams Time Out

Meryl dominates the proceedings. She simply disappears into the role, and the movie, for all its educational impulses, becomes about watching her do it.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Judith Egerton Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

88

Doesn't revolve around a self-centered main character or possess the schmaltz of Mr. Holland's Opus.
Full Review » 8 years ago
John R. McEwen Film Quips Online

60

Novice writer Pamela Gray has pumped this already-amazing story full of melodramatic embellishment and, in so doing, all but ruined its impact.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Kay Dickinson Sight and Sound

The standard plotline of a teacher bearing the torch of liberal enlightenment to an educationally bereft group comes off rather dubiously here.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Shlomo Schwartzberg Boxoffice Magazine

The inspiring true story of teacher Roberta Guaspari is given a conventional treatment in this decidedly uninspiring drama.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Peter Keough Boston Phoenix

Audience-pleasing Music certainly is, but whether it comes from the heart or directly from the tearducts is another question.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Chuck Rudolph Matinee Magazine

0

You might be able to tell what direction the movie's headed in, but you'll never outguess Streep.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality and Practice

A woman at the end of her rope after she is deserted by her husband finds a path of the heart that enables her to share her gift with the world.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle

50

Not exactly what we'd hoped for, but no worse, I think, than could be expected.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Bill Chambers Film Freak Central

60

Unintentional humour, soapboxing, and slack direction mar Music of the Heart's second half.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Ross Anthony Hollywood Report Card

50

an inspirational story that finds its harmonies not without their share of dissonant notes.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Susan Granger rec.arts.movies.reviews

80

Meryl Streep delivers a polished, virtuoso performance that could earn her another well-deserved Oscar nomination, while Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan, and Aidan Quinn deliver strong support.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Kevin Maynard Mr. Showbiz

Music is a calculated but effective film.
Full Review » 12 years ago