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Dec 28, 2019richmole rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Best intentions don't always make for the best of movies, and this one is no exception. Having said that... There's a lot to really like here, especially the cast, and especially Amanda Stenberg as Starr, the pressured daughter and Russell Hornsby as her conflicted father. The film is does best when it compares and contrasts Starr's two worlds: the white, "preppy" upper-middle class school that she attends and the downtrodden, black crime-infested neighbourhood where she lives. Early scenes are quite fascinating, especially--for a white viewer--the black neighbourhood party, whose party-goers could be aliens from a distant planet; the cultural/racial chasm is that deep and wide. The Hate You Give is basically a no-win story although it's more hopeful than tragic as the story closes--but, of course, does not quite end. Life does go on. We all want a clear-cut winner-loser story, and we don't get it here. (Life's like that.) So the movie is discomfiting, which is probably what the screenwriters intended. For that reason, it's tough to like. In spite of that: a box-office success.