Thought-provoking and dramatically-solid.
Comment
01/01/00
Losing Isaiah (1995)
41
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:11
Rotten:16
Average Rating:5/10
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Khaila Richards may be a crack addict but she's also the mother of a beautiful baby boy named Isaiah. One night, she finds herself desperate for a hit. So Khaila leaves the wailing infant swaddled... [More]
Starring: Jessica Lange, Halle Berry, Samuel L. Jackson, David Strathairn
Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal
Reviews for Losing Isaiah
Effectively dramatizes the clash of ideas and ideals in adoption cases.
08/30/02
The movie, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written by Naomi Foner, deals with all of those issues, but in a finally unsatisfactory way.
01/01/00
Top CriticIt reminds us that life is seldom tidy, work is always left to be done. And the resolve of these good people to do that work swells the heart.
01/01/00
Although Halle Berry makes a creditable effort to play against her glamorous image, she's no match for Lange.
01/09/02
Losing Isaiah transcends the custody issue and finds drama in the black-white polarities that neither character can escape.
06/18/02
The narrative is too fragmented and the film's point of view shifts for stretches that are too lengthy.
01/01/00
While the subject may be controversial enough to merit an Oprah free-for-all, this evenhanded melodrama is neutral to a fault.
01/01/00
This drama about interracial adoption is serious and affecting, thanks in large part to the presence of its two magnetic stars.
05/20/03
Top CriticThe material is emotionally wrenching, but the actors play sociopolitical totems more than flesh-and-blood characters.
09/03/08
Top Critic[A] wishy-washy effort.
01/01/00
This is an absorbing and involving picture, but the terms propounded here limit the story, which depends almost entirely on emotions rather than on thought.
09/03/08
Losing Isaiah raises hopes for itself by dealing with a social issue as a disturbing dilemma rather than, in typical Hollywood style, as a heroic cause. But it's unwilling to follow through.
01/01/00
TV movies get no worse than this.
05/20/03
Not only does this lowest-common denominator conclusion backfire, it insults anyone who invested their time getting involved in the whole thing.
01/01/00
Despite the fine leads and some well-crafted scenes, Losing Isaiah is apt to make viewers angry and frustrated no matter where they stand on the issues.
09/03/08
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01/01/00
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04/12/02
No review available.
11/19/04
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