Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 7,928
Children of a Lesser God is a love story about a speech teacher who falls for a beautiful yet distant deaf girl in a small New England school for the deaf, and the obstacles that they face due to their differences. William Hurt plays James Leeds, a renegade teacher with an unconventional approach to education and a resume that includes stints as a bartender and a disk jockey. Upon his arrival, he is warned by school administrator Dr. Franklin (Philip Bosco) not to get creative with his
R, 1 hr. 59 min.
Oct 3, 1986 Wide
Nov 15, 2005
All Critics (32) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (6) | DVD (5)
Children of a Lesser God, though given a handsome openness in Director Haines' production, cannot transcend the banalities of the play. But Matlin does. She is, one might say, a miracle worker.
Hurt seems to be bucking for at least two Oscar nominations here: one for his performance, the other for best echo effects by an interpreter of signed speech.
A touching and universal love story.
There's scarcely a single moment in it that seems to be spontaneous.
This is romance the way Hollywood used to make it, with both conflict and tenderness, at times capturing the texture of the day-to-day, at times finding the lyrical moments when two lovers find that time stops.
The polemic drama of deaf rights translates into a heart-pounding love story -- the most passionately performed since Officer and a Gentleman.
A sappy but often genuinely moving and angry film about love, life and deafness.
Not unlike The Miracle Worker, this teacher-student-breakthrough movie updates the genre with several changes: the teacher (William Hurt) is an unconventional male, the student (Marlee Matlin) is an attractive female, and their relationship involves sex.
A genuinely touching love story and a clever gloss on the barriers and extensions of language.
Unfortunately, launched Matlin on us.
Never develops beyond a Hollywood public service picture.
An amphibian movie which introduces us to the world of the deaf and then moves gracefully into universality as it explores the difficulties we all face in love relationships.
As atuações de William Hurt e Marlee Matlin são simplesmente inesquecíveis.
Just flat out amazing.
A commentary on the state of the deaf community after so many years of innovation in teaching techniques, medicine, and biology, was missing from this romantic drama. Marlee Matlin was a great choice in casting, and her emotional portrayal of a deaf custodian was surely realistic and award show worthy, but many theater
August 8, 2010Super Reviewer
Slow and boring. The "love" seemed rushed and shallow for the depths of such drama! Performances for this movie have been overrated!
February 27, 2011Super Reviewer
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