Won't Back Down

Name: Won't Back Down
Released: 2012-9-28
Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Oscar Isaac, Rosie Perez, Holly Hunter

Won't Back Down

PG
2h 2m
2012

34%

age 9+

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Oscar® Nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal (2009, Supporting Actress, "Crazy Heart") and Viola Davis (2011, Actress, "The Help") lead a stellar cast in this empowering drama inspired by actual events. Hard-working single mom Jamie Fitzpatrick (Gyllenhaal) is concerned that John Adams Elementary is letting her daughter down. Teaming with a caring teacher (Davis) who wants the best future for her own son, she sets out to improve attitudes and elevate the school’s academic standards. Despite the odds, with courage, hope and persistence, the women just might prevail in this uplifting film that also stars Rosie Perez and Academy Award® Winner Holly Hunter (1993, Actress, "The Piano") .

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

34%

Critics Consensus: Despite the best efforts of its talented leads, Won't Back Down fails to lend sufficient dramatic heft or sophistication to the hot-button issue of education reform.

Reviews

From the Front Row

Matthew Lucas

A film of bumper sticker emotions, rather than ideas that might actually be helpful.

This is a gripping story, with only a few moments of awkwardness as policy details and pros and co...

Gyllenhaal and Davis make a good team. The former is impulsive and enthusiastic, displaying an und...

It's all way too much and perhaps the most troubling aspect is that it casts the teachers' union a...

This film is worth a watch -- and a debate afterwards.

June 25, 2017

FULL REVIEW

Common Sense Media

age 9+

Common Sense Says

Inspiring tale of a mom's quest to better her kid's school.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Won't Back Down, which is based on actual events, follows a mother's journey to turn her daughter's failing elementary school around. There's some insulting language ("idiot," "retard," as well as "ass") and bullying -- a teacher does nothing as a student rips another student's backpack, and the same teacher purposely keeps a kid from leaving class to use the bathroom. Jamie, the protagonist mom, wears tight clothes and flirts with pretty much everyone -- culminating in a romantic relationship with a teacher at her child's school. Adults drink at a bar and restaurant, but there's no drunkenness. Parents and kids will be reminded of the difference that just one or two people can make in a community.