The Debut (2001)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 1,240
My Rating
Movie Info
Ben Mercado is a talented high school senior who enrolls in a prestigious art school in order to realize his dreams of becoming an animator. However, his plans come into conflict with those of his immigrant father Roland, a postal worker intent on seeing Ben become a doctor. Their long-simmering feud (for Ben a struggle to fit into American life and reject his Filipino heritage; and for Roland, a quest to give his children a better life than he had) threatens to boil over and ruin the elaborate
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All Critics (28) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (6) | DVD (8)
Mostly the situations, albeit compressed, ring true; the characters are admirably multi-dimensional, and there are welcome doses of humor that compensate for any contrivances.
Top CriticAn earnest and predictable little indie.
A neat blend of well-drawn major characters and drama, music, dance, romance and humor that generates considerable charm and achieves a heartwarming resolution of its generational conflict.
The film has a sweet low-budget quality that sometimes slips into TV-movie schmaltz.
Celebrates community and family, and does so in such a warm-hearted way that its formulaic nature is easily forgiven.
Familiar in its story arc, but fresh in its energy and lucky in its choice of actors.
The Joy Luck Club did the "white people are ignorant" story with less obviousness
Director Gene Cajayon, with co-writer John Manal Castro and a charming cast, continually subverts expectations.
That it feels so predictable is, ironically, a tribute to the universality of the experience it explores.
Predictable but heartfelt, and valuable in that it is one of the first Filipino-American productions.
For all its familiarity, The Debut (an unfortunately bland and vague title) is a film from the heart...
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Latest News on The Debut
February 8, 2012:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Plans Directorial DebutHe'll star opposite Scarlett Johansson.
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