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Its intentions are sometimes easier to appreciate than its execution, but The Public remains an earnest and reasonably engaging social advocacy drama.
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All Critics (91) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (32)
That everything ends on a weird happy-clappy high is indicative of a scattershot project that could have done with less ambition, more focus. February 24, 2020 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
That everything ends on a weird happy-clappy high is indicative of a scattershot project that could have done with less ambition, more focus.
Kevin Maher
It is a film with its heart in the right place, but the dialogue and characterisation are both plonkingly unconvincing. February 19, 2020 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
It is a film with its heart in the right place, but the dialogue and characterisation are both plonkingly unconvincing.
Peter Bradshaw
It's hard to play a good man doing the right thing. Saints are dramatically dull, but Estevez gets away with it here. July 30, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
It's hard to play a good man doing the right thing. Saints are dramatically dull, but Estevez gets away with it here.
Paul Byrnes
Estevez's drama gets a little preachy in the second half, but "The Public" is passionate about its cause and the cast... deliver like the pros they are. May 21, 2019 | Full Review…
Estevez's drama gets a little preachy in the second half, but "The Public" is passionate about its cause and the cast... deliver like the pros they are.
Randy Myers
Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Slater and Gabrielle Union all look like they'd rather be somewhere else. April 26, 2019 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…
Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Slater and Gabrielle Union all look like they'd rather be somewhere else.
Barry Hertz
Writer-director-star Emilio Estevez turns a library occupied by homeless citizens as ground zero for our under-fire democracy. Bravo! April 13, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Writer-director-star Emilio Estevez turns a library occupied by homeless citizens as ground zero for our under-fire democracy. Bravo!
Peter Travers
A mix of eloquence and satire, in this homeless mass uprising takeover of one of the last remaining US sanctuaries for bookworms and the homeless alike, the public library. February 21, 2020 | Full Review…
A mix of eloquence and satire, in this homeless mass uprising takeover of one of the last remaining US sanctuaries for bookworms and the homeless alike, the public library.
Prairie Miller
The Public presents a heartening story of triumph of good over evil, but sadly lacks the gravitas one would usually expect from these types of stories. February 21, 2020 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
The Public presents a heartening story of triumph of good over evil, but sadly lacks the gravitas one would usually expect from these types of stories.
Linda Marric
Credit to Estevez for making this but it's quite thin, offers no real solutions and has tired characterisations. February 19, 2020 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
Credit to Estevez for making this but it's quite thin, offers no real solutions and has tired characterisations.
Jamie East
It's all a bit old-fashioned and earnest but with US civil liberties under attack, it's a timely celebration of humanity. February 19, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
It's all a bit old-fashioned and earnest but with US civil liberties under attack, it's a timely celebration of humanity.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
At times feels a worthy successor to the social issue dramas that were a trademark of Stanley Kramer in the civil rights era. February 17, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
At times feels a worthy successor to the social issue dramas that were a trademark of Stanley Kramer in the civil rights era.
Allan Hunter
The canvas is broad, with lots of supporting characters and subplots, and while the writing is heavy-handed at times in the Golden Age of Television style, Estevez imbues the movie with a large and generous heart. January 7, 2020 | Full Review…
The canvas is broad, with lots of supporting characters and subplots, and while the writing is heavy-handed at times in the Golden Age of Television style, Estevez imbues the movie with a large and generous heart.
M.V. Moorhead
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