If the Academy awarded a booby prize...

Rating: 1/10 (22 July 2000)

Holy moly, what a terrible film! Sentimental, cliched, predictable, implausible, full of elaborately manufactured tear-wrenching moments (ho-hum), full of one-dimensional characters, and as if that wasn't enough, unbelievably irresponsible. The portrayal of the British as evil incarnate is ridiculous, but the portrayal of the Americans as good incarnate is something worse than ridiculous, especially when it comes to the issue of slavery. Folks, that's not quite the way it was. But apparently Americans aren't ready yet to face anything remotely resembling a truthful account of their own history. A film like this certainly isn't going to help. We're the good guys, they're the bad guys. It's that simple. Aimed at an audience with an IQ near the level of plant life.