Description: Gripping tale of a white social worker's fight to keep her adopted African-American baby when the birth mother, a reformed crack addict, sues for custody.
The material is emotionally wrenching, but the actors play sociopolitical totems more than flesh-and-blood characters. Todd McCarthy,Variety
This is an absorbing and involving picture, but the terms propounded here limit the story, which depends almost entirely on emotions rather than on thought. Jonathan Rosenbaum,Chicago Reader
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New reviews added from Rotten Tomatoes.
05/20/2003 @ 12:00 AM
This drama about interracial adoption is serious and affecting, thanks in large part to the presence of its two magnetic stars. Janet Maslin,New York Times
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New reviews added from Rotten Tomatoes.
06/18/2002 @ 12:00 AM
Losing Isaiah transcends the custody issue and finds drama in the black-white polarities that neither character can escape. Edward Guthmann,San Francisco Chronicle
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New reviews added from Rotten Tomatoes.
01/01/2000 @ 12:00 AM
Not only does this lowest-common denominator conclusion backfire, it insults anyone who invested their time getting involved in the whole thing. Desson Thomson,Washington Post
While the subject may be controversial enough to merit an Oprah free-for-all, this evenhanded melodrama is neutral to a fault. Rita Kempley,Washington Post
The movie, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written by Naomi Foner, deals with all of those issues, but in a finally unsatisfactory way. Roger Ebert,Chicago Sun-Times
Thought-provoking and dramatically-solid. James Berardinelli,ReelViews