Opening

74% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
20% The Hangover Part III May 23
63% Epic May 24
96% Before Midnight May 24
88% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
83% Fill the Void May 24
17% A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24
More...

Top Box Office

87% Star Trek Into Darkness $70.2M
78% Iron Man 3 $35.8M
50% The Great Gatsby $23.9M
46% Pain & Gain $3.2M
69% The Croods $3.0M
77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
99% Mud $2.2M
36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M
More...

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31
More...
The Five Heartbeats

The Five Heartbeats (1991)

tomatometer

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

audience

93

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 18,624

My Rating

Movie Info

Loosely based on the life and times of several R&B artists (The Dells, The Temptations, Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke and others) The Five Heartbeats traces the rise and fall of a popular African-American 1950s singing aggregation. The story is told from the point of view of one of the "Heartbeats," played by Robert Townsend (who also co-produced, directed and co-wrote the script with Keenan Ivory Waynans). The film is an amalgam of anecdotes drawn from real-life experiences: the long struggle

R,

Musical & Performing Arts, Drama

Keenen Ivory Wayans, Robert Townsend

Jan 22, 2002

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

Critic Reviews for The Five Heartbeats

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (10) | DVD (5)

The rise and fall of a flashy, fictional 1960s rock group.

February 22, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Renee Schonfeld
Common Sense Media

The charitable might be tempted to describe The Five Heartbeats as wholesome and well-intentioned -- but so is a 6-year-old who just crayon-scrawled "I love cookies" on the living room wall.

February 5, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com
Scott Weinberg
DVDTalk.com

An underrated drama about the ups and downs of a Temptations-like r&b group with solid acting and fine music. If you haven't seen it, rent it. It's worth it.

October 19, 2004
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

A once or future 'VH1 movie that rocks.'

March 1, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
View all critic reviews (23)

Audience Reviews for The Five Heartbeats

View All
SOULFULLY delightful...see this the go to "Dreamgirls"... as a follow up...you will...float on a soulful cloud. See it!
September 23, 2008
Fascade518
Fascade Fiveoneeight

Super Reviewer

Well made, but it?s a little to predictable to be a great film. Great music, the period detail is fair. The performances are fine, perhaps a bit melodramatic, but overall everyone does well. Very entertaining and it always held my interest.
November 8, 2009
jam233
James Higgins

The Five Heartbeats Quotes

View All
No quotes approved yet for The Five Heartbeats. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Discussion Forum

View All

There are no discussion threads for The Five Heartbeats yet.

What's Hot On RT

Total Recall
Total Recall

Bradley Cooper's Best Movies

Critics Consensus
Critics Consensus

Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh

24 Frames
24 Frames

Fast & Furious cars gallery

Summer Movie Scorecard
Summer Movie Scorecard

Blockbusters ranked!

Movie News

View All

Featured on RT

Comments

Top Headlines

Fresh Links

<em>Star Trek</em> Movies Ranked
Star Trek Movies Ranked External Link
 HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 <em>Star Trek</em> Villains
Top 10 Star Trek Villains External Link
 Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback External Link
 We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
50 Most Classic Movie Moms External Link
 In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
Weirdest Movie Siblings External Link
 From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Follow RT on Twitter!
Follow RT on Twitter! External Link
 Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile
Copyright © Flixster, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Ad Choices