Review Roundup: CESAR CHAVEZ Opens on Friday

Director Diego Luna's biopic of California farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist opens in theaters on Friday.

The film stars Michael Peña as César Chávez, America Ferrera as his wife, Helen, and Rosario Dawson as Chávez's National Farm Workers Association co-founder Dolores Huerta. Also featured are Wes Bentley, Gabriel Mann, and John Malkovich.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

A.O. Scott | New York Times

"The movie is so intent on reminding viewers of its subject's heroism that it struggles to make him an interesting, three-dimensional person, and it tells his story as a series of dramatic bullet points, punctuated by black-and-white footage, some real, some simulated, of historical events." Read the full review here.

Betsy Sharkey | Los Angeles Times

"The man was not, by most accounts, pedestrian. In trying to follow so closely in his footsteps, the film, however, is." Read the full review here.

Bill Zwecker | Chicago Sun-Times

"A solid and mostly successful attempt to introduce this important labor leader and civil rights activist to younger audiences, while reminding older folks of the impact Chavez had on this country." Read the full review here.

Claudia Puig | USA Today

"Michael Peña embodies the determination, idealism and gentle spirit of Chavez in an appealingly subtle performance." Read the full review here.

Tony Hicks | San Jose Mercury News

"But even if the film CESAR CHAVEZ, seems to sugarcoat its subject, it holds real value in depicting a chapter of America's past with which many people are unfamiliar." Read the full review here.

Peter Keough | Boston Globe

"Luna's CESAR CHAVEZ, with its yellowed, fuzzy 'period' photography, its black-and-white archival inserts, its occasional, pseudo-verite use of handheld cameras, and its subdued performances and static narrative, plays more like an exercise in nostalgia than a dramatic re-creation of a triumphant fight for civil rights." Read the full review here.

Mick LaSalle | San Francisco Chronicle

"There's little here that a good documentary might not have accomplished better. CESAR CHAVEZ is rote and dutiful, as though the filmmakers were following a great-man-movie template, with little added inspiration or cinematic dazzle." Read the full review here.

Peter Debruge | Variety

"A passion project about a passionate man takes surprisingly flat form in CESAR CHAVEZ, demonstrating that however effective the tactic may be in real life, starving oneself for social justice doesn't necessarily make for the most compelling screen entertainment - but then, preaching the virtues of nonviolence has never been cinema's strong suit." Read the full review here.

Did you venture out to see CESAR CHAVEZ this weekend? Add your review to the roundup in the comments below.

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