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American Son

Play trailer 1:38 Poster for American Son 2019 1h 30m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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48% Tomatometer 25 Reviews 64% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
An estranged couple reunite in a Florida police station to help find their missing teenage son.
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American Son

American Son

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Critics Consensus

Kerry Washington capably anchors American Son with her nervy turn as a concerned mother, but the staginess of the production ill-serves its heavy-handed social commentary.

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Critics Reviews

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Alissa Wilkinson Vox 11/04/2019
American Son doesn't really work as a movie. Its theatricality comes across as forced and curiously inert on screen, at close range to the actors, and its conversations about race and policing in particular feel stilted and contrive Go to Full Review
Brian Lowry CNN.com 11/01/2019
American Son possesses considerable power in its premise, while wrestling with the claustrophobic aspects of transferring a stage play to the screen. Ultimately, the subject matter wins out, yielding a flawed but brisk 90-minute Netflix presentation. Go to Full Review
Glenn Kenny RogerEbert.com 11/01/2019
1.5/4
Almost all the acting here is pointedly overstated, as if the performers are trying to project past an especially long proscenium. Go to Full Review
Nick Levine NME (New Musical Express) 05/11/2021
2/5
This no-frills Broadway adaptation should have stayed on stage... Go to Full Review
Marty Brown Common Sense Media 04/24/2020
2/5
Stage adaptation superficially grapples with complex issues. Go to Full Review
Sarah Gorr The Spool 01/23/2020
American Son has all the subtlety and nuance of Driving Miss Daisy (which is to say almost none), albeit with a more interesting and complex message. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Angie H Jun 10 Nothing but racial arguments the whole time. Turned it off half way through but then wanted to see how the trainwreck would end. Very abrupt ending. Both main characters were obnoxious. I did not like it at all. See more Tony B Feb 5 Ive watched this movie in 2019. And have just finished watching it again-2025. Incredible performance from Kerry Washington, Steven Pasqual and Jeremy Jordan. Each characters played their role responsibly and takes me to a roller coaster of emotional ride. A wild one at that. Brilliant. U know how good they are when u feel what you’re supposed to feel about the character they’re carrying, the story they're telling. The depth of emotions throughout the movie was exceptionally executed. Anger, sad, worries, annoyance, ignorance, prejudicial, remembrance, selfishness, insensitive, regrets, appreciation, rigidity, pretentious, kind and love. Great movie. See more Jeff M 02/11/2024 I absolutely HATE reviewing movies like this! The intentions here are so good and the subject matter so topical and important, but if I'm judging it as a film, it's borderline bad. And it breaks my heart because this topic deserves better. This is based on a play, and I would have loved to see it in that capacity, where long speeches and powerful monologues resonate. But there is nothing cinematic in the rendering here. The characters don't talk to each other, they preach. The same four actors who originated the parts on stage recreate their performances here, and I think that's another problem. They are overly theatrical, often playing to the back row. I wish the filmmakers had tried to open it up a bit, allowing us to learn more about the backgrounds of these characters and the other characters we just hear about but don't know. This is literally a four character movie, not a single other human is on screen, and the fact that we don't get to meet Washington and Pasquale's son diminishes the impact of what we are experiencing. In the case of this movie, good intentions can't save the day. Such a shame! See more Jerod S @jeroduptown 01/19/2023 90 minutes of Kerry Washington fake crying but never producing a tear over the possible where-abouts of her biracial son. This social commentary movie is heavy handed on the fragility of children and a mess of a look into mixed race marriage. See more tony h 07/23/2022 Like the Denzel Washington film, "Fences," this is a play presented as a film, althought 'Fences' has slightly more "film-like" realism, as it were. Like 'Fences,' this film is well worth the effort. You're watching the drama, and following the plot, not merely watching a film. See more 03/19/2021 Not what I thought. Full of forced racial stereotypes. Everyone you could think of. See more Read all reviews
American Son

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Movie Info

Synopsis An estranged couple reunite in a Florida police station to help find their missing teenage son.
Director
Kenny Leon
Producer
Rebecca Gold, Kenny Leon, Jeffrey Richards, Pilar Savone
Screenwriter
Christopher Demos-Brown
Production Co
Simpson Street
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 1, 2019
Runtime
1h 30m
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