The Reading Room

2005

The Reading Room

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77%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 414

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Movie Info

After the death of his beloved wife, Helen (Lynne Moody), wealthy African-American suburbanite William Campbell (James Earl Jones) finds that Helen has left behind a "living will" in the form of a videotape. As William watches the video, his late wife urges him to take his huge personal library down to the tough inner-city neighborhood and to establish a reading room. Though confused by this request, William does exactly that, only to find that none of his new neighbors seem inclined to read -- not until he posts a sign reading FREE SODA. Ever so slowly, a few "regulars" trickle into the reading room, among them an idealistic young special-ed teacher (Joanna Cassidy), a high-schooler (Keith Robinson) studying for his SATS, and a little girl (Gabby Soleil) who hopes to get her mother to learn to read. For the most part, however, William's little sanctuary is the target of break-ins and the hangout for local gang members, and with this in mind it isn't surprising that several people encourage him to pack up and get out -- none more adamantly than the Reverend Rashid Rahim (played by George Stanford Brown, the film's director), a self-appointed urban activist who perceives in William a threat to his supremacy. Eventually, whether or not William stays or goes boils down to his attempt at "redeeming" a youthful thief named Javier (Douglas Spain) -- and it is at this point in the narrative that William finally understands why Helen wanted him to open up the reading room in the first place. Filmed with the endorsement of the National Center for Family Literacy, The Reading Room was produced for cable's Hallmark Channel, where it first aired on November 26, 2005.

Rating:

PG
Genre:

Drama, Television
Directed By:

Georg Stanford Brown
Written By:

Randy Feldman
In Theaters:

Nov 1, 2005 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Oct 24, 2006
Runtime:

93 minutes
Studio:

MTI Home Video

Cast

James Earl Jones
as William Campbell

Joanna Cassidy
as Diana Weston

Idris Muhammed
as Reverend Rahim

Tim Reid
as Douglas Bradshaw

George Stanford Brown
as Rev. Rashid Rahim

Kathryne Dora Brown
as Jillian

Keith Robinson
as Darrel

Douglas Spain
as Javier

Lynne Moody
as Helen Campbell

Austin Noah Marques
as Edgar

Gabby Soleil
as Majoli

Spensir Bridges
as Lamont

Idris Muhammad
as Stephon

Monique Coleman
as Leesha

Jessica Szohr
as Dayva

Spencir Bridges

Georg Stanford Brown
as Rahim

Christian Monzon
as Omar

Mike Gomez

Jim Jansen

Adam Crosby

Christian Eric Billings

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Critic Reviews for The Reading Room

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Audience Reviews for The Reading Room

Oct 14, 2010

A made for tv movie that's very well done. This is a very touching, and heart warming drama that I very much enjoyed. James Earl Jones is a very fine actor, and this movie really excells because of him.

Cynthia S Super Reviewer
Dec 20, 2007

Definitely a made-for TV movie. I think the writers glossed over how difficult it is to recover after a fire but it was still an uplifting movie.

Ida K Super Reviewer