MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

sddavis63 On the surface, what we have with "Won't Back Down" is yet another "fight the system" movie, and another one that deals with problems in schools - schools that are run by administrators and school boards who really don't want to listen to parents and their concerns, and filled with unmotivated teachers who are there to collect a paycheque and who, for the most part, don't really care all that much about the students they're supposed to be teaching. That's a pretty standard story. Like most of them, this is "inspired by true events" (another line that by now produces mostly a barely stifled yawn from me.) Now, in truth, this is based on actual events in the sense that the fictional John Adams Elementary School is a sort of composite school, with the teachers and parents also being composite, and the movie depicts the kind of struggle that went on in several schools in California (although, intriguingly enough, the movie is set in Pennsylvania) as parents tried to take advantage of new laws to allow them to essentially take over schools that were underperforming.The whole "charter school" thing is foreign to me, since I'm not an American. I can imagine that trying to do this would be a difficult undertaking, and the movie points out (probably accurately) the roadblocks put up along the way by school boards and teachers' unions. The leads were Maggie Gyllenhall as Jamie Fitzpatrick, whose daughter is dyslexic, and Viola Davis as Nona Alberts, a teacher at Adams with a learning disabled son, who becomes convinced that Jamie is right. The two form an alliance to convince teachers and parents to sign on to the idea to force a vote by the school board on the takeover. Gyllenhall and Davis were both very good in the roles. The movie does what most "fight the system" movies do - it gets the viewer rooting for the underdog who's taking on the evil system.This does, however, come across as heavy-handed and politically motivated, and certainly it's completely unsympathetic to unions. In fact, I spent most of the 2 hour run time feeling as if I was watching a never-ending conservative TV commercial, blasting away at the evils of unions and big government. The movie makes some valid points and raises some valid issues. What do we do about public schools that just aren't turning out educated kids? What do we do about unmotivated teachers who are protected by their union at the expense of their students? What do we do about school boards (or other levels of government) that just won't listen to concerns and follow their own agendas? All valid issues to discuss and debate. But they took this movie over in a way that made this whole movie seem too political, and in the end it turned out to be not so much inspiring as irritating to be perfectly honest. (4/10)

Ed Uyeshima If not for the emotional resiliency of the two lead actresses, this 2012 feel-good drama about the reformation of a failing inner-city Pittsburgh school would come across as no more than a polemic. However, Maggie Gyllenhaal ("The Dark Knight") and Viola Davis ("The Help") bring enough intense fervor to their roles of parent and teacher that this becomes a creditable film if not all that memorable. Director and co-screenwriter Daniel Barnz doesn't help matters much by stacking the deck so predictably in the script (co-written with Brin Hill) while tackling a serious exposition problem with a lot of education jargon that feels like it requires the viewer to take some preparation exam to watch it. Watching Davis Guggenheim's 2010 documentary, "Waiting for 'Superman'", is helpful since it covers similar territory by showing how students strive to become accepted into a charter school.The plot here takes a more contrived route as it focuses on Jamie, a single mom holding down two jobs while becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of attention her eight-year-old, Malia, receives from her teachers in treating her dyslexia and dealing with bullies. Through happenstance, she finds a little-known piece of legislation based on California's "parent trigger" law, which allows parents and teachers, under certain circumstances and after rounds of approvals, to take over schools and run them entirely. This motivates Jamie to partner with Nona, a teacher at Malia's school, who has similar frustrations from an insider's perspective but has been stymied time and again by the system. The movie then takes us on their journey running through all the bureaucratic red tape that you would expect from an inspirationally- minded drama.I give credit to Barnz and Hill for at least presenting a compelling argument against the cause by showing how the teachers' union would suffer major setbacks along the way. As Jamie, Gyllenhaal does her best work since her compelling turn as the struggling drug addict-mother in 2006's "Sherrybaby". She brings loose-limbed passion to her character's relentless drive toward realizing a charter school for her daughter. At first, Davis appears underserved by the script, but this actress has no problem conveying the gravitas and compassion needed to make Nona's evolution feel realistic. As Evelyn, the president of the teachers' union, Holly Hunter ("Broadcast News") - who would have likely played Jamie a couple of decades ago – brings palpable conviction to her character's increasing moral conflict. It's good to see Rosie Perez ("Fearless") again on screen as Nona's sympathetic fellow teacher. Other supporting turns amount to stereotypes as dictated by the script. The subject of the film is quite worthwhile, but the treatment needed far more texture.

rgblakey There are movies that come along based on inspirational stories and usually manage to deliver just on the story itself. When you give them a bit of a budget and some great actors then you have the possibility of creating something special. The latest film takes on the rarely talked about in film issue of education in Won't Back Down. With Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis leading the way could there be any chance this film doesn't work? Won't Back Down follows two determined mothers whose children are failing in an inner city school, who team up to take back the school and turn it into a place of learning. Before they are able to change the school, they have to battle the parents, school board, and teachers union. While this isn't an actual true story like a lot of these films, it is based on various incidents of its kind. They don't break any molds or do anything that hasn't been done in some way before, but what is refreshing is who is under fire in this story, the education itself as opposed to those struggling to learn. The performances are all great and the movie works fine, but there is just something missing that most of these films have to really suck you in and that's that moment where those fighting the losing battle deliver a memorable moment that turns things around. Most likely trying to shove that into this story would have felt forced and cliché, it just lacked that needed punch to add the extra passion to make the movie step out of just another in a line of inspirational stories.Make no mistake, this is a great movie, but isn't breaking any ground. If you enjoy these sorts of stories then you should check it out. Thanks to the two leads it takes a film that could have been pretty generic and turned it into something really good. If these two great actresses aren't enough to suck you in, the film also sports a great supporting cast as well including Ving Rhames, Holly Hunter, Rosie Perez and Bill Nunn so there is bound to be someone in there to peak your interest.

TxMike DVD from my public library. It is "inspired" by real events but there is no way of knowing how much of it is fiction. My wife and I enjoyed it.Set in Pittsburgh, Maggie Gyllenhaal is a single mother Jamie Fitzpatrick. She has a young daughter, in 2nd grade, doing poorly in reading and not getting much sympathy or help from her public school teacher. When Jamie one day comes to the school and asks the teacher if she could spend a few minutes at the end of the day helping her daughter, the teacher responds flatly "School is over at 3PM." Part of that reflects the strong teachers union rules, and part of it is teacher apathy.Jamie is intelligent but not very well educated, partly because of her dyslexia, the same handicap causing her young daughter's difficulties. In her efforts to find a better classroom, or a better school, she learns of a new law which allows teachers and parents to take control of a school via petition to the school board. She is warned that it is an uphill battle, may take years to do, and no guarantee that it will work. But Jamie can't wait years, her daughter needs better instruction now, so she goes about attempting the seemingly impossible. The second key character in this story is Viola Davis as Nona Alberts, one of the teachers who cares about the kids, and who also has a young son with learning difficulties. Jamie has to work very hard to convince her, but eventually and together they move the project forward.Why did we like this movie? The actors bring these characters to life and, even if it didn't really happen this way, it is a good story about the human spirit and the need, everywhere, to focus on the children and their learning. Teachers and their unions are never the prime focus. As the movie says near the end, the meaning of life is to make a difference in the life of a child. We hope it is a positive difference.