73
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83HitfixHitfixMbatha-Raw is shockingly good in creating both the "Noni" public persona and the real Noni.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEntertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattBoth Mbatha-Raw and Parker are appealing, expressive actors, and writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) lets them breathe, filling in the boilerplate bones of the story with smartly nuanced commentary.
- 83The A.V. ClubThe A.V. ClubThis is feel-good populist entertainment at heart.
- 80Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekVillage VoiceStephanie ZacharekA movie isn’t a cliché when it can sing like this.
- 80The DissolveGenevieve KoskiThe DissolveGenevieve KoskiMelodrama is defined by exaggerated characters and events, as well as overt appeals to emotion, and Beyond The Lights fits that mold ably and comfortably. But beneath the shiny surface of music-video imagery and true-loveisms lie some provocative ideas and deep truths about how people relate on a private level vs. a public one.
- 70VarietyGeoff BerkshireVarietyGeoff BerkshireBeyond the Lights is a strange beast, a music-industry romance that alternates freely between wisdom and mawkishness, caustic entertainment-biz critique and naive wish fulfillment, heartfelt flourishes and soap-opera shenanigans.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyGina Prince-Bythewood’s entertaining music-biz melodrama is no less satisfying for the familiarity of its soapy trajectory.
- 63Slant MagazineChris CabinSlant MagazineChris CabinBy rooting Noni's self-image issues in a controlling mother, the script provides the film with a tame, melodramatic structure that dulls the thorny matters of identity and expression at its center.
- 63McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreBeyond the Lights is another pain-behind-the-music romance. But it’s so well written, cast and played that we lose ourselves in the comfort food familiarity of it all.
- 50New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithThe teary-eyed sincerity of the music-industry drama Beyond the Lights is at times too much, but despite its cliche elements, the film at least has the feel of a passion project.