Black Nativity

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Black Nativity

PG

2013

1h 33m

Holiday

Musical

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

51%

Tomatometer

87 Reviews

51%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Langston (Jacob Latimore), a Baltimore teen raised by a single mother (Jennifer Hudson), travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with estranged relatives, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his wife, Aretha (Angela Bassett). However, Langston soon finds that Cobbs has strict rules, and the youth is unwilling to follow them. Instead, he sets out on a return journey to his mother and finds the value of faith, healing and family along the way.

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Critics Consensus

It's sweetly amiable and solidly performed, but Black Nativity suffers from director Kasi Lemmons' heavy-handed treatment of its celebrated source material.

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Dwight Brown

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Mar 21, 2017

Black Nativity is a jubilant experience.

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Wesley Morris

Grantland

Dec 10, 2013

All of Black Nativity proceeds with sort of clumsy obviousness.

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Max Nelson

Film Comment Magazine

Dec 9, 2013

To my eyes, Black Nativity is the cinematic equivalent of a Christmas tree ornament: shiny, hollow, sheathed in decorative, artificial linings, mass-produced and, given the cost of today's movie theater tickets, overpriced.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Sep 3, 2020

3.0/4.0

If not for the presence of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Black Nativity would likely be an easily tossed away film for anyone.

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Allen Almachar

The MacGuffin

Jul 28, 2020

B-

We're in that strange area where a film balances between two opposite ends: it's impossible to hate, but really tough to love

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Julian Lytle

Punch Drunk Critics

Jan 11, 2020

2.5/5

To wrap up, Black Nativity isn't the best holiday film we have this season and probably won't clean up at the cinema because in the end it's just a quite average movie.

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Robert P

@Superbad Oct 1, 2026

Black Nativity = a 2.5 star Movie!

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Vanessa H

@RT81298967 May 23, 2024

It’s a shame what a low rating this movie has. It’s a beautiful musical with wonderful and soulful voices. There is a lot of great talent; I was especially impressed by the young actor, Jacob Latimore. It’s a positive and uplifting movie. It is also a nice tribute to Langston Hughes; it is based off of his play.

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kyle m

@RufusMorgan Dec 3, 2022

The heavy handedness of the message mixes beautifully with Forest Whitaker's performance as the intense Reverend. Far better than Netflix's "Jingle Jangle" Black Nativity captures the story from the Bible, while also elevating African-American culture, creating a gorgeous and moving film.

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r 9

@RT00952237 May 2, 2021

I was, for the most part, feeling pleasant enough about this... until that ending. It's not that 'Black Nativity' ends badly, it's just so incredibly forced and cringeworthy. It's a Christmas film so I guess I could cut it some slack, but I feel it could've concluded things much better. Some of the character decisions felt odd at times, also. One of the reasons as to why I was actually finding this satisfactory throughout is the cast - loads of recognisable and likeable faces. Forest Whitaker (Cornell) is honestly great, his performance is the only one I'd class as anything over 'good'. Jacob Latimore (Langston) and Angela Bassett (Aretha) are the best of the rest, though I always like watching 'Fast & Furious' star Tyrese Gibson act too. All in all, nothing positive or negative... just average.

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georgan g

@RT98616417 Feb 28, 2021

An ok musical but not much of a film.

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Nov 24, 2020

We loved this movie! It was marvelously written and performed!

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Kasi Lemmons

Director

Forest Whitaker

Rev. Cornell Cobbs

Angela Bassett

Aretha Cobbs

Jennifer Hudson

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Tyrese Gibson

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Jacob Latimore

Langston

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Synopsis

Langston (Jacob Latimore), a Baltimore teen raised by a single mother (Jennifer Hudson), travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with estranged relatives, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his wife, Aretha (Angela Bassett). However, Langston soon finds that Cobbs has strict rules, and the youth is unwilling to follow them. Instead, he sets out on a return journey to his mother and finds the value of faith, healing and family along the way.

Director: Kasi Lemmons
Producer: Celine Rattray, William Horberg, Galt Niederhoffer, T. D. Jakes
Screenwriter: Kasi Lemmons
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Wonderful Films, Maven Pictures
Rating: PG (Language|A Menacing Situation|Thematic Material)
Genre: Holiday, Musical, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 27, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 31, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.0M
Runtime: 1h 33m
Sound Mix: Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Digital

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