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A Raisin in the Sun
MOVIE: ABC, Monday 2/25 at 8:00p (180 minutes)


7.6

based on 19 reviews
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based on 14 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Sean Combs, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Lathan, Justin Martin, John Stamos, David Oyelowo, and Sean Patrick Thomas

The Broadway cast, which includes Phylicia Rashad and Sean Combs, reunite in this TV revival of the award-winning play.

GENRE(S):	Drama
CREATED BY:	Lorraine Hansberry (play)
FIRST AIR DATE:	February 25, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Eddy Weiss

It's a beauty--in many ways richer than the Broadway production--and should not be missed.

100

USA Today Robert Bianco

As terrific as the three women are, the movie would not have been made without Combs and would not work as well without him

100

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

ABC's new version of A Raisin in the Sun deserves fanfare: It's a strong contender for best TV movie of the season.

100

New York Post Linda Stasi

Combs does a great, great job--especially for someone who isn't known as an actor. And the rest of this cast glows. Don't miss it--and don't let your kids miss it either.

Time James Poniewozik

Rapper Sean Combs holds his own as ambitious son Walter Lee Jr., but Phylicia Rashad is devastating as a matriarch trying to hold her family together when a dream deferred turns dangerous.

Wall Street Journal Dorothy Rabinowitz

This three-hour production, starring most of the cast of the 2004 Broadway revival, flies by with lightning speed--and that cast led by Ms. Rashad, superbly authoritative, impossibly attractive as Lena, is no small part of the reason. Ms. McDonald is heartbreaking as Ruth, desperate to understand her husband's descent into misery, and Mr. Combs, who portrays that husband, delivers a sterling performance.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

This knockout adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry play is a model of both the pure power of stage acting and TV’s potential to bring us up close to that acting without deadening it.

Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker

The whole production is a model of subtle adaptation.

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

Those three performances are so good that they lift up everyone around them, whether it's Combs (best whenever he has Rashad or McDonald to spar with) or John Stamos, surprisingly subtle in what could be a thankless role as the white man who doesn't want the Youngers moving into his neighborhood.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

At three hours, this adaptation might seem a bit lengthy, but when Raisin’s female cast members are on the screen, the time flies by.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Chris Rawson

[The audience] will see some wonderful acting, especially from the luminous McDonald as Walter Lee's wife, Ruth. And they will see the movie debut of director Leon, who has helped turn these fine stage performances into convincing movie work, with the help of a screenplay by Paris Qualles that opens up the play into small additional scenes that will be a special pleasure for those who already know the play on stage.

The New York Times Ginia Bellafante

There are no mediocre performances here.

TV Guide Matt Roush

The women are the main event here, including the wonderful Audra McDonald (also a Tony winner) as Walter Lee's long-suffering wife and Sanaa Lathan as his spunky sister. It would take a hard heart not to root for this family, to cry with them or to rejoice when they finally get their moment in the sun.

Variety Dennis Harvey

No one will mistake this well-produced but inevitably dialogue-driven piece for pure cinema, but Leon and adapter Paris Qualles open up the play just enough to avoid the usual stage-to-screen claustrophobia.

Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

The staging remains a bit creaky, but none of this diminishes the spirit of the play or the cast's commitment to the material, which almost seems palpable. It's still a provocative, powerful piece of work.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

The women are the more critical characters, in any case, and Rashad, McDonald and Lathan give the show all the power it needs for its uncomfortable and frustrating yet in some ways hopeful ride through the life of a black family in 1950s Chicago.

Newsday Linda Winer

This handsome, moodily shot movie liberates the play from the confines of the tiny apartment with almost too many scenes on the bus, in a bar and, most chilling, in the back room of a beauty shop where the neighborhood abortionist boils forceps.

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

The play, and the production, might have been better served by rolling a few cameras into the theater, but I know that isn't how people like to do these things.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

It seems more a collection of cliches than the revered semiautobiographical work of the first black woman playwright to land on Broadway, a woman whose father fought a restrictive racial covenant all the way to the Supreme Court to keep his family's home in a white Chicago neighborhood in the '30s.

The average user rating for this tv show is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Matt R. gave it a10:
I have read the book for this play and the movie is just as good if not better than the play. it shows how racism and the hardships of people can be overcome by staying together as a family. This is a must watch movie

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Better Luck, Next Time. The women carried the show. I never felt the passion of Walter Lee Younger from Sean Combs (P.Diddy). P.Diddy should fall back, in performing the character Walter, and do what he does best as an Executive Producer - "Behind the Scene".

S R. gave it a10:
This was easily the best production I've seen on commercial television in years. I know it was risky and I certainly hope it was worth the risk to ABC and the advertisers. It was way worth it to me.

Cameron K. gave it a10:
Phenomenal performance by Audra McDonald.

gail z. gave it a10:
I wish they would put more like this on prime time television. I loved the old Kraft Theater shows, etc. The acting was good enough to hold my attention the entire time.

CHASE E. gave it a4:
All the women and other supporting actors were great! The lead actor P diddy or puffy combs was extremely difficult to watch. He needs some acting lessons.

Aaron M. gave it a4:
Combs was awful, and the adaptation left out several key scenes form the play in favor of including dumbed-down sequences that attempted to emphasize the same problems the play dealt with much more powerfully.

A Raisin in the Sun MOVIE: ABC, Monday 2/25 at 8:00p (180 minutes)

A Raisin in the Sun
MOVIE: ABC, Monday 2/25 at 8:00p (180 minutes)