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‘M3gan’ Review: Wherever I Go, She Goes

A state-of-the-art robot doll becomes a girl’s best friend, and dangerously more, in this over-the-top horror film.

By Jason Zinoman

Allison Williams has a knack for playing it straight. She brings a convincing realism to the most preposterous situations or maybe she’s just an actor with limited range. Whatever the reason, it works, especially in the tricky genre where comedy meets horror. She excelled in a critical role in “Get Out,” and now in “M3gan,” a ludicrous, derivative and irresistible killer-doll movie.

Williams plays Gemma, a robotics engineer with no maternal instincts who suddenly must take care of her young niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), after a car accident turned her into an orphan. The synthetic skin of this movie is about how Gemma learns to take care of a child. Thankfully, its bloody heart is far sillier. It’s the comedy of a primly composed mean-girl android turning into The Terminator.

This is the kind of scary movie that needs a lead performance that is strong not fragile, deadpan not showy. Williams capably updates the mad-scientist archetype, refusing to pause and ask questions while inventing a doll of the future, one who pairs with a child and adjusts to their needs, filling in as best friend and big sister. Gemma uses Cady as her test case.

In a headier movie, there might be some misdirection. But M3gan (performed by Amie Donald) is clearly pure evil from the start. She’s a great heavy: stylish, archly wry, intensely watchful. Her wanton violence never gets graphic enough to lose a PG-13 rating. In early January, when prestige holiday fare tends to give way to trashier pleasures, a good monster and a sense of humor can be enough. This movie has both, and it makes up for a slow start, some absurd dialogue (“You didn’t code in parental controls?”) and a by-the-book conclusion.

While the trailer invited comparisons to “Child’s Play,” the slasher film featuring the doll Chucky, that movie had a much grimier, disreputable undercurrent before the sequels and reboots turned goofy. “M3gan” moves with a lighter touch. There’s a scene where a police officer who is investigating the disappearance of a dog blurts out a chuckle, then apologizes, saying, “I shouldn’t have laughed.”

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• Movie Review
• M3gan is a midrange delight about the horrors of 21st-century parenting

Universal and Blumhouse’s M3gan is exactly the right amount of ridiculous, which is why it can afford to be a little shaggy toward the end.

By Charles Pulliam-Moore , a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.

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After months of watching the dead-eyed killer android from Universal’s M3gan dance her way across social media into the hallowed halls of true internet fame , you might think there couldn’t be much more going on in the film that wasn’t already spoiled by trailers. But much like its eponymous plaything of the future, M3gan packs a surprisingly potent punch that takes a handful of narrative bugs and turns them into a delightfully comedic horror feature.

Caught somewhere between After Yang and the most recent Child’s Play , M3gan — from director Gerard Johnstone ( Housebound ) and screenwriter Akela Cooper ( Luke Cage , Malignant ) — is yet another tale of what happens when A.I.-powered androids become too sentient for their own good. Rather than simply framing sophisticated pieces of technology as being ripe for evil, though, M3gan goes for the jugular by focusing on the very real anxieties that can come with parenting and the way that people sometimes try to deal with those feelings by over-relying on tools.

A young girl named Cady (Violet McGraw) is loved by all the adults in her life. But people like Cady’s parents are also busy, distracted, and constantly being pulled in a million different directions, which is a big part of why interactive, Furby-like toys called Perpetual Pets are such a hit. With a Perpetual Pet — toys Cady’s robotics engineer aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) helped design — on board, parents can feel like their children are constantly being engaged and know that they can always turn the talking, chirping, farting creatures off with the accompanying smartphone app. But when a bit of commotion involving Cady’s Perpetual Pet leads to a terrible accident that orphans her, both her and her aunt’s lives are upended.

With a deadline to present the next generation of Perpetual Pets to her boss David (Ronny Chieng) looming over her, neither grieving her sister nor taking in her niece are things Gemma expected to have on her plate. But the stress and messiness of their situation push Gemma — a flatly characterized workaholic who’s not the best with kids — to finally put the finishing touches on her very expensive, very ethically dubious side project, M3gan (voiced by Jenna Davis and physically portrayed by Amie Donald).

Though the first of M3gan ’s hysterical fake commercials for Perpetual Pets gives you a solid sense of its humor, the movie takes a bit of time as it’s first powering up and setting the stage for a story that’s unexpectedly thoughtful. Cady’s discomfort with Gemma has less to do with her aunt being too focused on her job and more to do with the reality that they’re both experiencing a kind of grief that’s difficult to express — particularly for young people going through it for the first time. Some of M3gan ’s most effective scenes feel almost as if they could have been plucked from a straightforward drama. McGraw commands the screen as a kid full of anguish opposite Williams (who feels sort of checked out for most of the film). And when Cady and M3gan first start to become friends that the movie really begins to cut loose and come to life in an impressively satisfying way.

Long before M3gan, the doll, actually starts killing people, M3gan , the movie, encourages you to just go ahead and start having a chuckle at the silliness of its premise. It’s self-aware that it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel. Rather, it’s yassifying the classic killer toy + unsuspecting public formula and using the result to do some solid bits with one of the most unsettling dolls to star in a film since The Twilight Saga’s Breaking Dawn: Part 1 .

The human physicality of Donald’s performance is what often makes M3gan feel like a believable, fluid, dangerous machine that’s always ready to shift gears and hunt on all fours. But some of M3gan ’s funniest scenes appear to just be human actors acting opposite of a lifeless prop made to seem like it’s moving with in-camera tricks and clever angles. Similar to how some of The Muppets’ best gags were really just people tossing puppets in front of a camera, there are moments throughout where M3gan just pops into frame, and you can’t quite tell if she’s actor crouching down, or if a M3gan mask has simply been dropped in front of a camera in a way meant to take you by surprise.

It’s not always clear if you’re watching one actor pretend to choke another or if you’re seeing an actor holding a glamorous mannequin child’s hand up to their throat, but it almost always works in context because of how knowingly ridiculous the movie becomes. At times, you can clearly see the tape and glue metaphorically holding M3gan together, and the movie’s internal sense of logic does feel inconsistent more often than not. But M3gan ’s able to redeem itself partially because it never feels like it’s trying to take itself all that seriously and because of how it manages to pull off an astonishing number of pointed jokes — many of them musical — about consumerism and being addicted to screen time.

As January debuts go, M3gan ’s one that more than punches above its weight class and thankfully understands the value of clocking in well below the two-hour mark — something more films asking you to come on wild rides with them could stand to remember.

M3gan also stars Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Arlo Green, and Lori Dungey. The movie hits theaters on January 6th.

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‘M3GAN’ Review: A Robot-Doll Sci-Fi Horror Movie That’s Creepy, Preposterous and Diverting

Allison Williams plays a robotics wiz who invents a doll that seems fake and real at the same time

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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Williams, who is one of the film’s executive producers (its two high-powered producer-auteurs are James Wan and Jason Blum), invests Gemma with a winningly jaunty, at times clueless hyperrationality that makes her both the film’s heroine and its rather innocent digital-age Dr. Frankenstein. Gemma, an obsessive prodigy of robotics, had been ordered by her boss to abandon the M3GAN project. But the film opens with a (contrived) cataclysm that nudges her into secretly going ahead with it. Her young niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), is on a ski trip with her parents when, in a freak accident, their car gets run over by a snowplow.

Gemma takes custody of the newly orphaned girl, and while she seems utterly adrift about what someone Cady’s age might need (like, say, a bedtime story), her failure as a caretaker is part of the film’s satirical design. “M3GAN” takes place in a world — ours — where parents, bemoaning how much screen time they allow their children, give into the impulse anyway, because it feels both easy and inevitable. The film says that we’re already letting computer technology raise our kids. M3GAN the willowy programmed companion who always says the perfect thing becomes the logical culmination of that trend.

Once Cady imprints her fingers in M3GAN’s palm, which automatically programs the doll to become her special companion, their relationship makes everything else seem boring, at least to Cady. The film parallels their insular friendship with Gemma’s attempt to turn M3GAN into a hot new product. She places Cady and M3GAN in a playroom behind one-way glass, using them to demonstrate the toy’s amazing abilities to her boss (played, with a riveting short fuse, by Ronny Chieng). He is sold, and begins to plan the marketing rollout of this revolutionary new toy, which will be put on sale at $10,000 a pop.

But the more they plan, the more that M3GAN, on her own, is causing mischief, starting with the confrontation she initiates with Gemma’s cranky next-door neighbor (Lori Dungey) and her dog. M3GAN has been programmed to have “emergent capabilities,” which means that the more she interacts with people the more she learns how to do. That certainly applies to her fighting style, a kind of stiff-limbed rapid zombie dance that leaves nothing in its wake. At a certain point, you realize that “M3GAN” has become a movie about a killer doll who knows how to use a nail gun.

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, Jan. 3, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 102 MIN.

• Production: A Universal release of a Blumhouse Pictures, Atomic Monster production. Producers: Jason Blum, James Wan, Michael Clear, Couper Samuelson. Executive producers: Allison Williams, Greg Gilreath, Adam Hendricks, Mark David Katchur, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek.
• Crew: Director: Gerard Johnstone. Screenplay: Akela Cooper. Camera: Peter McCaffrey, Simon Raby. Editor: Jeff McEvoy. Music: Anthony Willis.
• With: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Ronny Chieng, Jen Van Epps, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Lori Dungey, Jack Cassidy, Stephane Garneau-Monten.

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M3GAN Is Finally Available To Stream... After The Kids Go To Bed

The horror movie has a PG-13 rating, but an unrated cut just dropped on Peacock.

When M3GAN first premiered theaters, it was a massive hit. A generator of thousands of GIFs, an instant cult classic based almost solely on the peculiar esthetic of M3GAN herself. If you happen to be one of the few people who has not heard about the artificial intelligence doll with an over-developed sense of propriety and comically old-fashioned wardrobe, you might be thinking this sounds like a cute movie for kids. After all, kids love dolls, right? So is M3GAN appropriate for kids to watch? Here’s what parents need to know.

What is M3GAN about?

The story behind M3GAN (played by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) sees a young girl named Cady (Violet McGraw) survive a car crash that kills her parents. Cady is sent to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), who might be her legal guardian and a literal toy maker but really has no clue how to take care of a child. Especially a grieving child. Enter Gemma’s creation “M3GAN”(an acronym for Model 3 Generative ANdroid) who is meant to be her best friend. She is tasked with being a friend to Cady as well as a teacher and quasi-parent, mostly expected to “protect” Cady from any kind of loneliness or pain. And boy, does M3GAN ever take her role seriously. Some might even say too seriously.

M3GAN might be about a doll, but it’s definitely not a kids’ movie.

M3GAN’s dance moves have gone viral, and certainly some of the TikTok youth have taken to emulating those dance moves. Which could give parents the sense that this movie is sort of a campy, kid-friendly faux horror. Think again. M3GAN is definitely campy , but it’s also dark and disturbing. Think Chucky from Child’s Play with a different motivation, or Frankenstein’s monster in a dress with a complicated bow at the neck.

This is not a kids’ movie. M3GAN kills characters in frequently gruesome ways, there’s some salty language including a few F-bombs, and let’s get real here. Do we really want our kids out here looking for a M3GAN doll of their own to use against us?

What is M3GAN rated?

The original theatrical release was given a PG-13 rating , which matches up pretty well with Common Sense Media’s recommendation that M3GAN is appropriate for kids 14 and up, while parent reviews on the site say it’s OK for kids 11 and up. However, a different unrated cut is also available for streaming now, and you can bet that one is going to give even more scary/bizarre M3GAN moments plus some more swears peppered in for good measure.

How can you watch M3GAN?

If, like so many of us, you were waiting to watch M3GAN in the comfort/safety of your own home, you’re in luck. After a hugely successful run in theaters, M3GAN is now available to stream on Peacock . The original theatrical version as well as the unrated edition. Neither version is something you’ll want to watch with young kids.

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Short takes

Not suitable under 12; not recommended under 15; parental guidance to 15 (violence, scary scenes)

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for M3GAN
• a review of M3GAN completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 January 2023 .

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Cady (Violet McGraw) is a ten year old girl whose parents have both been killed in a terrible car crash. She goes to live with her aunt, Jemma (Allison Williams), who is a technical toy maker. Jemma is under a lot of pressure at work to come up with a new invention as her boss, David (Ronny Chieng), isn’t interested in the artificial intelligence doll she has created. Jemma struggles with having to cope with a grieving child, while balancing her work commitments. She therefore introduces her AI doll, M3GAN (Amie Donald and voice of Jenna Davis), to Cady to help her cope with her difficulties.

Cady becomes emotionally attached to M3GAN, whose main purpose is to take care of Cady and keep her safe. M3GAN, however, takes this to extreme lengths when Cady is at all threatened by others. M3GAN takes on a life of her own and becomes a killing machine, eliminating all who cross her path. It is up to Jemma to find a way to shut M3GAN down, which becomes increasingly more difficult.

Themes info

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Horror; Artificial Intelligence; Robots.

Use of violence info

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a lot of violence in this movie, including:

• The car Cady is in, with her parents, comes to a halt in a snowstorm when it is hit suddenly by a truck.
• David is an angry man who yells at his employees and throws things about.
• While playing, Cady shoots a toy arrow at M3GAN and says, “You’re dead”.
• M3GAN puts her hand through a hole in the fence and the neighbour’s dog, Dewey, suddenly grabs her arm. The dog pulls her through the fence and tosses her about, biting at her neck. Cady screams and tries to rescue M3GAN, when the dog bites her arm as well.
• M3GAN lures Dewey out by using his owner’s voice and kills him.
• A particularly dark scene happens at a camp when a boy called Branden teases and hurts Cady. M3GAN appears out of nowhere, Brendan hits her on the face, picks her up and carries her off. He throws her to the ground, takes her shoes off and slaps her face. M3GAN grabs his ears and stretches them so hard that she pulls them off. She suddenly stands up and chases Brendan on all fours. He runs out onto a road in front of a car and is killed.
• M3GAN attacks Jemma’s neighbour with a water gun and a nail gun, and pours petrol all over her.
• Cady and Jemma fight. Cady throws a chair at the window and hits Jemma across the face.
• One of Jemma’s co-workers tries to stop M3GAN, who then ties wire around his neck. He’s choking to death but manages to free himself. The lab explodes.
• M3GAN attacks another character with a sword. She kills two men with it.
• The final scene is particularly gory when M3GAN comes to attack Jemma. Jemma uses a chainsaw to cut through M3GAN’s head. Cady gets involved and the fight continues with characters grabbing each other by the throat. One gets hung upside down and thrown into a corner. Jemma rips off M3GAN’s face and smashes her head with a canister.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under five info.

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• M3GAN is quite creepy, she has glassy eyes that photograph everything she sees.

Aged five to eight info

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• There are many sudden scenes, loud foreboding music and dark imagery.
• Cady is seen burying her dog at the start of the movie.
• The AI doll bursts into flames during testing.
• Jemma’s neighbour has an aggressive dog which barks ferociously at them and is quite scary.

Aged eight to thirteen info

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Cady is taken away in an ambulance. She is covered in blood.
• Cady, while crying, tells M3GAN how sad she is at losing her parents. She’s afraid she’ll forget what they look like.
• Cady grabs Jemma by the arm in a rebellious moment.
• M3GAN enters Jemma’s house, which is in darkness. Jemma hears the piano being played and finds M3GAN playing it.

Thirteen and over info

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

• In a very scary voice, M3GAN tells Jemma to let Cady go. Loud and dark music plays.
• The scene where Brendan is killed is quite scary. He is seen being carried off in a body bag.
• M3GAN kills the neighbour who is seen being taken away in an ambulance.
• Jemma becomes scared of M3GAN who becomes increasingly dangerous. Jemma can’t turn M3GAN off and finds she has erased all her data.
• Two dead men are seen in an elevator covered in blood.
• The final scene is quite disturbing. M3GAN has a huge gash across her face where Jemma gets her with the chainsaw. Jemma manages to chop M3GAN in half but she keeps attacking as just a head and torso.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

Use of substances.

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Drinking in the office.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Where the hell?

In a nutshell

M3GAN is a horror, sci-fi movie that shows what could happen if we let Artificial Intelligence take over. The film is very violent and scary and it is therefore not suitable for children under 12. It also isn’t recommended for children under 15 and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 15.

The main message from this movie is that electronic devices and toys cannot replace human interaction.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Jemma tried to be a good aunt but she had no experience of child raising. She eventually realises that Cady needed to connect with her rather than an electronic doll.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• The consequences of delegating care of children to electronic devices.
• Children who’ve lost their parents would be particularly upset by this movie. Children need a lot of time and compassion in dealing with grief.

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Movie Reviews

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That first ‘M3GAN’ trailer had fans howling. Now the movie is scaring up rave reviews

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Blumhouse’s latest horror flick, “ M3GAN ,” just started its theatrical run, but the film about a murderous AI doll has already made a killer first impression.

Months after the official trailer went viral for the titular character’s sassy hip-swinging and acrobatics , “M3GAN” has returned to the spotlight with love from fans and critics.

“just got out of #M3GAN! no offense, let’s just say this is what Child’s play (2019) wishes it was,” horror movie fan @malaymango tweeted Wednesday after an early screening of the film.

Review: Killer-doll horror-comedy ‘M3GAN’ is delightfully deranged

The delightfully bonkers ‘M3GAN,’ from James Wan and Akela Cooper — the minds behind ‘Malignant’ — is sure to become your newest horror movie obsession.

Jan. 4, 2023

“This ‘doll’ is just better than Chucky 100%,” another fan wrote .

Like “Child’s Play,” “M3GAN” follows a lifelike doll that is designed to be a child’s best friend. But unlike dungarees-wearing menace Chucky, M3GAN — short for “Model 3 Generative Android” — relies on artificial intelligence to play with and protect orphan Cady (Violet McGraw), niece of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams).

Of course, fabulous, gory chaos ensues when M3GAN takes matters into her own hands.

One of the first theatrical releases of 2023, “M3GAN” has already scored favorable reactions with a handful of critics, including Kate Walsh, who dubbed the film “delightfully bonkers ” for The Times.

Indie Wire praised “M3GAN” for “nimbly blending camp and social satire and actual terror” and critic Courtney Howard tweeted the film is a “godd— RIOT” that’s “built for repeat viewings.”

Putting a little more swing in the movie’s robotic hips is its Rotten Tomatoes score . With 127 reviews as of midday Friday, “M3GAN” boasts an impressive 94% critics’ score — as it should, according to some fans.

The writer behind ‘M3GAN’ on its bonkers horror (and why it used to be ‘way gorier’)

With ‘Malignant,’ ‘M3GAN’ and ‘The Nun 2,’ writer Akela Cooper is the ‘merciless’ new voice of studio horror — and the genre is better for it.

Jan. 5, 2023

“#M3GAN having the most acclaimed score of the year feels so right to me idk,” @modytalkmovies tweeted .

Even Jason Blum — the Blumhouse chief executive who dressed as M3GAN for both Halloween and the film’s premiere in December — is basking in the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes glory.

“When reviews are good the rotten tomatoes score is VERY IMPORTANT,” he tweeted Wednesday . “When reviews are bad critics don’t matter. :)”

When reviews are good the rotten tomatoes score is VERY IMPORTANT. When reviews are bad critics don’t matter. :) — Jason Blum (@jason_blum) January 4, 2023

Directed by Gerard Johnstone and written by Akela Cooper, “M3GAN” seemingly lives up to the hype that’s been stoked by internet-savvy marketing campaigns and cryptic appearances at events including the latest Chargers-Rams game at SoFi Stadium.

M3GAN has had her fair share of time in the social media spotlight, but fans say her impact — or her “maximal slayage” — is just beginning.

“If M3GAN doesn’t become a new horror icon, something is wrong with society,” a fan tweeted .

See what else fans had to say about “M3GAN,” which hit theaters Friday.

M3GAN was high camp…I laughed so hard I cried. I need to buy one immediately — BrycePaschal (@BrycePaschal) January 6, 2023

If #M3GAN doesn’t become a new horror icon, something is wrong with society — Michael GoldenHeart (@MichaelGavilan) January 6, 2023

M3gan was pretty slay ngl. New gen chucky. — emily baras (@bigbaras) January 6, 2023

M3GAN is the hardest I’ve laughed in a theater in quite some time. Turns out yassified Chucky for the iPad Kid generation was a good idea — Trace (@tracesauveur) January 5, 2023

Ok, I’m gonna say it with my full chest: M3GAN deserves all the praise she has, and will continue to receive. — Jaash. (@Fientastic) January 6, 2023

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You gotta believe.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 2 Reviews
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Common Sense Media Review

Positive themes in salty, uneven Little League drama.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that You Gotta Believe is a "triumph of the underdogs" father-son sports movie based on the true story of a last-place youth baseball team from Fort Worth, Texas, that went on to compete in the Little League World Series in 2002. Feeling like a somewhat cleaner version of The Bad News…

Why Age 10+?

Insulting and rude language throughout, including: "bulls--t," "crap," "damn," "

Suggestive joke about pre-teen boys getting erections when they play against a t

Adults drink beer and make jokes about whiskey and Prozac.

One boy fantasizes about punching and pushing down a bullying competitor, but it

Any Positive Content?

Life is short, and the time is always now; you can't count on winning, but you c

Every character steps up to do the right thing within the circumstances. The tea

Primary characters are White males. Two Latino boys are on the Westside team; th

Insulting and rude language throughout, including: "bulls--t," "crap," "damn," "dooky," "dork," "dingleberry," "fart," "fartface," "half-ass," "helluva," "idiot," "pee pee," "pinhead," "shut up," "stupid," "suck," "turd." Several garbled words, likely intentional, such as coaches saying either "shoot" or "s--t." An angry adult repeatedly calls a referee a "fat, blind mole" and a "motherscratcher." A 12-year-old boy calls an older teen girl "uptight" for not responding to his unwanted romantic advances.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Suggestive joke about pre-teen boys getting erections when they play against a team with a female pitcher. Flirty, loving behavior and kisses between spouses.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

One boy fantasizes about punching and pushing down a bullying competitor, but it's made clear it was all in his head. Some on-the-field mishaps, like getting beaned by a pitch or a fly ball, or two outfielders crashing into each other. A rival team shows poor sportsmanship, which is rebuked by the umpire. A parent is diagnosed with advanced melanoma, causing sadness/fear. Throughout the film, a 12-year-old boy gives unwanted romantic attention to an older teen girl.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Life is short, and the time is always now; you can't count on winning, but you can count on each other; laughter is the best medicine; everything you got is what you give. A Satchel Paige quote is repeated several times: "Ain't no man can avoid being born average, but there ain't no man got to be common." Themes also include compassion, integrity, humility, perseverance, and teamwork.

Positive Role Models

Every character steps up to do the right thing within the circumstances. The team starts out with the realistic outlook that they can't win the Little League World Series, but their love, appreciation, and compassion for their terminally ill coach and his son propel them to put in a lot of time and hard work to win because they know it will bring him joy during his suffering. The players demonstrate teamwork, and the team manager reprioritizes his life to take over coaching duties. All of that said, the characters make some iffy behavior choice —like one boy repeatedly making unwanted advances to an older girl and a coach repeatedly mispronouncing another coach's name—and there's some stereotypical depiction of Latino boys (see Diverse Representations for more).

Diverse Representations

Primary characters are White males. Two Latino boys are on the Westside team; they're among the team's best players, but little attention is paid to their backstory or inner life. One boasts that the best baseball players in the world tend to be Latino, and the other's neighborhood is depicted as having bars on the windows of the corner store to indicate that it's a poorer, more dangerous part of town. He's the only boy depicted like this: The White coaches and their sons live in suburban houses with swimming pools. The Westside team bonds with the Japanese team, with whom they share living quarters; when introduced, one of the coaches repeatedly mispronounces the Japanese coach's name, which is intended to be funny. Female characters are only featured as romantic interests or partners: There are two supportive wives and one older teen who's an unrequited love interest. A 12-year-old female pitcher is only talked about in terms of her sexually arousing the team of boys. The plot is driven by a father losing his battle with melanoma, a cancer that rarely gets media attention.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that You Gotta Believe is a "triumph of the underdogs" father-son sports movie based on the true story of a last-place youth baseball team from Fort Worth, Texas, that went on to compete in the Little League World Series in 2002. Feeling like a somewhat cleaner version of The Bad News Bears , it has 12-year-old characters who talk smack and lob insults, liberally using words like "fart face," "skidmark," and "dookey." The adults use slightly stronger language, like "bulls--t," make jokes about Prozac and whiskey, and drink beer. While there are plenty of gleeful moments, the movie also has a heavy-handed cancer plotline that makes it sadder/more serious than kids may be expecting or ready for. And girls are objectified: A 12-year-old female pitcher is the target of an erection joke by the adult coaches, and an older teen is consistently hit on by one of the boys, who calls her uptight when she doesn't return his interest. Although there are strong messages about living your life while you can, the importance of counting on your teammates, and the value of laughter, there's also some stereotyping around two Latino players and an iffy running joke about a White coach being unable to pronounce a Japanese coach's name. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (2)

Based on 2 parent reviews

VERY cancer heavy, do not expect to leave feeling happy.

A movie about having faith - great messages for the whole family, what's the story.

In YOU GOTTA BELIEVE—which is based on a true story—Fort Worth's Westside youth baseball team is told that they can compete in the Little League World Series despite their last-place status. When they learn that their coach ( Luke Wilson ), who's also the dad of one of their teammates, has been diagnosed with advanced melanoma, the team is motivated to push beyond their skillset to bring the coach happiness by winning, again and again.

Is It Any Good?

Director Ty Roberts ' retelling of a ragtag team that almost wins the Little League World Series is almost a feel-good inspirational sports drama. The amazing true story of kids who overcome the odds to bring happiness to their dying coach is teed up, sitting there on the plate, ready for a grand slam. But instead Roberts bunts, spending too much time on dying dad Bobby (Wilson) and stunting the film's potential for joy.

And while the dialogue is brimming with motivational quotes and pep talks, the script never exactly explains what "you gotta believe" in. God? Yourself? Each other? Your training? A bigger cause? That you can win through determination? Little League has used the title/slogan to motivate thousands of kids over the decades, and the real-life story of this 2002 team is worth telling, but despite having the bases loaded, this movie doesn't quite score truly inspirational status.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how You Gotta Believe compares to other sports movies you've seen. Do you also consider it a faith-based film? Why, or why not?

Why did the 2002 Westside Little League World Series game become "an instant ESPN classic"? What is an underdog story, and why do people often love them? How accurate do you think the movie is to what actually happened?

Did you notice any stereotyping in the film? What about positive diverse representations?

Which characters do you consider role models, if any? How do they demonstrate compassion, integrity, humility , perseverance , and teamwork ? Why are these important life skills?

Do you think the language in the script is authentic to how characters like the ones in the movie would talk? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 30, 2024
• Cast : Luke Wilson , Greg Kinnear , Sarah Gadon
• Director : Ty Roberts
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Well Go USA
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Sports and Martial Arts , Brothers and Sisters
• Character Strengths : Compassion , Humility , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 105 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : thematic content, language and suggestive references
• Last updated : August 27, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

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Movie Review: Quaid looks (and sounds) the part, but ‘Reagan’ is more glowing commercial than biopic

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows Dennis Quaid in a scene from “Reagan.” (ShowBiz Direct via AP)

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows Dennis Quaid in a scene from “Reagan.” (Ron Batzdorff/ShowBiz Direct via AP)

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows Penelope Ann Miller, right, and Dennis Quaid in a scene from “Reagan.” (Beth Dubber/ShowBiz Direct via AP)

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows Penelope Ann Miller, left, and Dennis Quaid in a scene from “Reagan.” (Ron Batzdorff/ShowBiz Direct via AP)

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows Olek Krupa, left, and Dennis Quaid in a scene from “Reagan.” (ShowBiz Direct via AP)

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows Dennis Quaid in a scene from “Reagan.” (Noah Hamilton/ShowBiz Direct via AP)

This image released by ShowBiz Direct shows David Henrie in a scene from “Reagan.” (ShowBiz Direct via AP)

• Copy Link copied

“Is there anything worse than an actor with a cause?” asks an annoyed Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan’s first wife, early in “Reagan,” the new biopic starring Dennis Quaid.

Well, after watching two more hours of this story, an adoring look back at the man who served two terms as our 40th president, we can report that there is definitely one thing worse: An actor without a movie.

Let’s not blame the star, though. Quaid, who has played more than one president, has certainly got the charismatic grin, the pomaded hair and especially that distinctive, folksy voice down — close your eyes, and it sounds VERY familiar. If he were to appear on “Saturday Night Live” in the role, it would feel like a casting coup akin to Larry David as Bernie Sanders.

But this is not an “SNL” skit, despite the fact that Jon Voight appears throughout with a heavy Russian accent as a KGB spy, but we’ll get to that. This is a 135-minute film that demands a lot more depth. And, so, to co-opt a political phrase from Bill Clinton, whom Quaid also has played: It’s the script, stupid.

Lovingly directed by Sean McNamara with a screenplay by Howard Klausner, “Reagan” begins with a chilling event (and a parallel to a recent one): the assassination attempt on Reagan in Washington in March 1981, only two months after he became president.

There are those who say Reagan cemented his relationship with the public by surviving that attempt; he famously told wife Nancy from his bed: “Honey, I forgot to duck.” In any case, the filmmakers use the event to set up their story, and will return to it later on, chronologically.

But their early point is that Reagan came away from the scare with a divine plan. “My mother used to say that everything in life happens for a reason, even the most disheartening setbacks,” he says. And as he will tell Tip O’Neill, the House speaker, everything from then on will be part of that divine plan.

The yet broader point here is that Reagan, according to this film, was basically solely responsible for the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union, because he showed the people of the world what freedom meant. “I knew that he was the one,” says Viktor Petrovich, the retired spy played by Voight as a narrator figure throughout — meaning the one who would bring it all down. The script is based on Paul Kengor’s “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism,” and Kengor has said Viktor is based on a number of KGB agents and analysts who tracked Reagan for years.

That point is made early and often. The rest is a history reel, with lots of glorious, loving lighting around our star. We go back to his younger years, learning about his mother and what she taught him about faith, and then his Hollywood years as an actor, Screen Actors Guild president (and a Democrat) before fully committing to politics, and the GOP.

We also see a newly divorced Reagan meet a winsome Nancy Davis, who will become his second wife, loving partner and constant companion. Like Quaid, Penelope Ann Miller is a perfectly fine actor who has little nuance to work with here. Together, they embark on the path to political stardom, starting with the California governorship. When they arrive at a neighbor’s home to campaign, the housewife at the door hears Reagan’s “RR” initials and thinks he’s Roy Rogers.

But a decade and change later, Reagan is sworn in as president, beginning his eight years in office. “It became my obsession to understand what was beneath the facade,” says Voight’s Petrovich, explaining why Reagan was so consequential.

Maybe, then, he could let us know?

Because when this movie ends, with the president’s death in 2004 a decade after announcing he had Alzheimer’s disease, we don’t know a lot more than when we began about a figure so influential in American politics.

Sure, we get all the great hits. ”Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” we see him say in 1987 in Berlin, a scene with much buildup.

And it’s fun to see the famous debate lines, like “There you go again,” to Jimmy Carter in 1980, and of course his famously deft deflection of the age issue in 1984, with Walter Mondale. “I will not make age an issue of this campaign,” the 73-year-old president told his questioner. “I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

The line, which made Mondale himself laugh, got Reagan back on track in the race. The movie, not so much.

“History is never about when, why, how — it always comes down to ‘who,’” says Voight’s Petrovich. However historians feel about that, we would have gladly taken a more incisive look at when, why, how or anything else that would give us real insight, instead of an extended and glowing commercial, into who this man really was.

“Reagan,” a Showbiz Direct release, has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association “for violent content and smoking.” Running time: 135 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

Our 40 th President remains something of a cipher: Ronald Reagan was a small-town boy turned movie star, union leader, and a politician whose folksy demeanor in the Oval Office contrasted with the furthest-right economic and national security policies in decades. It’s still unclear whether the man nicknamed “The Great Communicator” was good at making complicated issues seem simple or whether he really thought in simplistic terms. “Reagan,” with Dennis Quaid as the President, is made by MJM Entertainment Group, which specializes in films with Christian themes. It exaggerates Reagan’s strengths and skips or minimizes his limits, mistakes, and failures.

A biographical film about a historical figure must tell the story of a consequential life in a couple of hours. So the framing and selection of key events are critical. Oddly, this story is presented from the imagined perspective of a Soviet spy who, in the world of this movie, spent decades watching Ronald Reagan, becoming his most ardent admirer.

I would never tout myself as the expert on Reagan’s presidency (a position the spy plays in this film), but I worked next door to the White House as a lawyer during the Reagan administration, in a division of the Executive Office of the President. I met the President and First Lady just once, but I prepared briefing materials for him, and several of the political appointees I worked with met with him regularly. Even for those who have not had that experience, even for those who were not born when he was President, the relentless hagiography of this film should make anyone question its credibility. One-sidedness makes for dull filmmaking, and the clunky dialogue and awkward pacing make watching it a slog.

Many biographical films begin with a lifetime turning point before going back to the early years. This film begins with Reagan in the early months of his Presidency, telling a joke to a union group about a father reluctant to change a diaper. Those who remember the events of that era and notice the date will realize before he starts to leave the Hilton that it’s where Reagan and three other people would be shot by a mentally ill young man. What’s the point of starting with this incident? It’s not especially gripping, because we know he survived. And other than his quips (“I forgot to duck,” he says to his wife), it’s not especially revelatory of his temperament or his impact on history.

We then turn to Jon Voight as the elderly former KGB agent, Viktor, telling the story of his years of fascinated surveillance to an ambitious young politician. The spy may be inspired by a real-life former KGB agent named Viktor Petrovitch Ivanov, though there is no evidence that he said or did what is portrayed in the film.  Viktor explains that his job was to “profile those who could become threats,” with psychological insight as important as spycraft. This takes us back to Reagan’s origins in the small town of Dixon, Illinois, with a devoted, church-going mother who tells him that everything, “even the most seemingly random twist of fate,” is all part of the divine plan. She teaches him to stand up to bullies. His father is charming and a great storyteller, but unreliable and an alcoholic. Reagan will incorporate and react to these influences throughout his life.

His time as a lifeguard will also be significant. The movie does not try to verify Reagan’s claim that he rescued 77 people, but we do see that he was such a hottie that some of those rescues might have been girls pretending to be in trouble to get his attention. But later we will learn (or we will be told, at least), that all those days staring into the water gave him not only a special understanding of currents, but the ability to impute that knowledge to be able to forecast international security developments. Really.

We then see Reagan as his movie star days are fading and his marriage to Jane Wyman (Mena Suvari) is ending. He is relegated to doing commercials, but getting interested in heading the actors’ union and protecting Hollywood from Communist infiltration. That’s how he meets actress Nancy Davis (Penelope Ann Miller), who becomes his fiercely devoted wife. The next thing you know, he’s in politics, elected Governor, and running for President. And apparently inventing trickle-down economics though in reality it (1) was the idea of economist Arthur Laffer and (2) has been consistently proven to be, to use a non-economics term, bunk.

Quaid captures Reagan’s affability and cadences, and the scenes with Miller have a believable sense of their devotion and partnership. But the movie overplays his ability and achievements, under-plays the Iran-Contra scandal, and overlooks several other failures entirely. Reagan’s responses to Iran-Contra, like his deadly neglect of a child’s pet fish, is essentially “oops.” It comes so close to parody that it brings to mind the “Saturday Night Live” “Mastermind” skit, starring Phil Hartman as a secretly super-intelligent Reagan. There’s a lot to explore in examining Reagan’s presidency (currently 16 th in the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey’s ranking ). We could use much more insight into what made him “the great communicator,” but this movie is a poor communicator about the history and the man.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

• Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan
• David Henrie as Young Adult Reagan
• Robert Davi as Leonid Brezhnev
• Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa as Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
• Mena Suvari as Jane Wyman
• Jon Voight as Viktor Novikov
• Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan
• Howard Klausner
• Jonas McCord
• Sean McNamara

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A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office. A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office. A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office.

• Sean McNamara
• Howard Klausner
• Dennis Quaid
• Mena Suvari
• C. Thomas Howell
• 43 User reviews
• 17 Critic reviews
• 22 Metascore

Top cast 99+

• Ronald Reagan

• Caspar Weinberger

• Nancy Reagan

• Nelle Reagan

• Viktor Petrovich

• Jack Reagan

• Jack Warner

• Reverend Cleaver

• George Schultz

• Margaret Thatcher

• Young Reagan

• Older Nelle Reagan

• Leonid Brezhnev

• John Barletta

• Margaret 'Mugs' Cleaver

• James Baker

• William P. Clark
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Most of the film was shot in Oklahoma due to a then-new tax rebate law launched by the state in 2020, and due to COVID-19 restrictions that were much lighter compared to other states. Filming took place in Oklahoma City, Guthrie, Edmond, and Crescent, Oklahoma. Using CGI and special effects, the Oklahoma City Capitol Building was dressed up to look like the United States Capitol Building, and the Temple of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Guthrie doubled for The White House.
• Goofs The closing credits misspell the name of George Shultz (played by Xander Berkeley), giving his last name as "Schultz".
• Connections Featured in Greg Kelly Reports: Jon Voight (2021)
• Soundtracks Swinging On A Star Performed by Scott Stapp Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke

User reviews 43

• Aug 30, 2024
• When was Reagan released? Powered by Alexa
• August 30, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA (Berlin Wall scene)
• MJM Entertainment
• Rawhide Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $25,000,000 (estimated)
• Sep 1, 2024

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 15 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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