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Black Nativity

Play trailer Poster for Black Nativity PG 2013 1h 33m Holiday Musical Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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51% Tomatometer 87 Reviews 51% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Langston (Jacob Latimore), a Baltimore teen raised by a single mother (Jennifer Hudson), travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with estranged relatives, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his wife, Aretha (Angela Bassett). However, Langston soon finds that Cobbs has strict rules, and the youth is unwilling to follow them. Instead, he sets out on a return journey to his mother and finds the value of faith, healing and family along the way.
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Black Nativity

Black Nativity

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Critics Consensus

It's sweetly amiable and solidly performed, but Black Nativity suffers from director Kasi Lemmons' heavy-handed treatment of its celebrated source material.

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Critics Reviews

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Dwight Brown National Newspaper Publishers Association Mar 21, 2017
Black Nativity is a jubilant experience. Go to Full Review Wesley Morris Grantland Dec 10, 2013
All of Black Nativity proceeds with sort of clumsy obviousness. Go to Full Review Max Nelson Film Comment Magazine Dec 9, 2013
To my eyes, Black Nativity is the cinematic equivalent of a Christmas tree ornament: shiny, hollow, sheathed in decorative, artificial linings, mass-produced and, given the cost of today's movie theater tickets, overpriced. Go to Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 3, 2020
3.0/4.0
If not for the presence of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Black Nativity would likely be an easily tossed away film for anyone. Go to Full Review Allen Almachar The MacGuffin Jul 28, 2020
B-
We're in that strange area where a film balances between two opposite ends: it's impossible to hate, but really tough to love Go to Full Review Julian Lytle Punch Drunk Critics Jan 11, 2020
2.5/5
To wrap up, Black Nativity isn't the best holiday film we have this season and probably won't clean up at the cinema because in the end it's just a quite average movie. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Robert P @Superbad Oct 1, 2026 Black Nativity = a 2.5 star Movie! See more Vanessa H @RT81298967 May 23, 2024 It’s a shame what a low rating this movie has. It’s a beautiful musical with wonderful and soulful voices. There is a lot of great talent; I was especially impressed by the young actor, Jacob Latimore. It’s a positive and uplifting movie. It is also a nice tribute to Langston Hughes; it is based off of his play. See more kyle m @RufusMorgan Dec 3, 2022 The heavy handedness of the message mixes beautifully with Forest Whitaker's performance as the intense Reverend. Far better than Netflix's "Jingle Jangle" Black Nativity captures the story from the Bible, while also elevating African-American culture, creating a gorgeous and moving film. See more r 9 @RT00952237 May 2, 2021 I was, for the most part, feeling pleasant enough about this... until that ending. It's not that 'Black Nativity' ends badly, it's just so incredibly forced and cringeworthy. It's a Christmas film so I guess I could cut it some slack, but I feel it could've concluded things much better. Some of the character decisions felt odd at times, also. One of the reasons as to why I was actually finding this satisfactory throughout is the cast - loads of recognisable and likeable faces. Forest Whitaker (Cornell) is honestly great, his performance is the only one I'd class as anything over 'good'. Jacob Latimore (Langston) and Angela Bassett (Aretha) are the best of the rest, though I always like watching 'Fast & Furious' star Tyrese Gibson act too. All in all, nothing positive or negative... just average. See more georgan g @RT98616417 Feb 28, 2021 An ok musical but not much of a film. See more Nov 24, 2020 We loved this movie! It was marvelously written and performed! See more Read all reviews
Black Nativity

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Cast & Crew

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Kasi Lemmons

Director

Forest Whitaker

Rev. Cornell Cobbs

Angela Bassett

Aretha Cobbs

Jennifer Hudson

Naima

Tyrese Gibson

Loot

Jacob Latimore

Langston

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Black Nativity

Black Nativity (2013) Black Nativity (2013) Black Nativity (2013) Black Nativity (2013) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Langston (Jacob Latimore), a Baltimore teen raised by a single mother (Jennifer Hudson), travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with estranged relatives, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his wife, Aretha (Angela Bassett). However, Langston soon finds that Cobbs has strict rules, and the youth is unwilling to follow them. Instead, he sets out on a return journey to his mother and finds the value of faith, healing and family along the way.
Director
Kasi Lemmons
Producer
Celine Rattray, William Horberg, Galt Niederhoffer, T. D. Jakes
Screenwriter
Kasi Lemmons
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Production Co
Wonderful Films, Maven Pictures
Rating
PG (Language|A Menacing Situation|Thematic Material)
Genre
Holiday, Musical, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 27, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 31, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$7.0M
Runtime
1h 33m
Sound Mix
Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Digital
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