A Raisin in the Sun (2008)
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83% of critics liked it
(6 reviews) -
71% of users liked it
(2,339 ratings)
Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan, and John Stamos all return to reprise the roles they originally played on Broadway in this made for television take on Lorraine Hansbury's timeless play about a 1950s-era Chicago family longing for a better life. Walter Lee has died, and… More Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan, and John Stamos all return to reprise the roles they originally played on Broadway in this made for television take on Lorraine Hansbury's timeless play about a 1950s-era Chicago family longing for a better life. Walter Lee has died, and now his widow Lena Younger (Rashad) is about to receive a $10,000 check from her late-husband's insurance company. Everyone in the family dreams about the ways their lives will be changed with the arrival of the money, family matriarch Lena - who longs to retire from her job as a domestic servant for a wealthy white family - in particular. Having lived in a one room tenement apartment ever since she and her late husband originally married, Lena is eager to purchase a house of her own and provide her family with a real home. Lena's son Walter Lee, Jr. (Combs), currently employed as a chauffer, and has recently become taken with the idea of purchasing a liquor store as a means of solving his family's financial woes. Like her mother-in-law, Walter's wife Ruth (McDonald) is also a domestic servant for a white family, and dreams of the day she can walk away from her job. While Walter's sister Beneatha (Lathan) strives to become a medical professional, tuition is expensive and she is currently being pursued by two men - wealthy but superficial George Murchison (Sean Patrick Thomas) and intellectual classmate Joseph Asagai (David Oyelowo). Much to everyone's surprise, Lena uses the lion's share of the money to purchase a home in the all-white residential neighborhood of Cllaybourne, splitting the remainder between Walter (for his entrepreneurial endeavor) and Beneatha (for tuition). Around the same time Walter loses his share of the inheritance to a smooth talking con man who claimed he could help finance the liquor store, the Claybourne "home improvement" association makes the discovery that the Youngers are black and sends emissary Mr. Lindner (John Stamos) to try prevent their neighborhood from becoming integrated by buying the house back. Now faced with the prospect of losing it all, Walter considers making a deal with Mr. Lindner in order to recover his losses. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Kenny Leon
- Genres
- Drama, Television
- In Theaters
- Feb 25, 2008 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Dennis Harvey, Variety
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.
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Anne Louise Bannon, Common Sense Media
Thoughtful, play-based drama examines racism.
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Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
A quintessentially American play, revisited...this one has towering performances from Rashad and McDonald.
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Kam Williams, AALBC.com
Helped immeasurably by his talented co-stars, Diddy comes of age as an actor here, delivering a memorable performance in an African-American literary classic which proves to be every bit as relevant today as the day it was first staged.
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James Plath, Movie Metropolis
All four main characters reprise their roles from the stage, but it's McDonald who turns in the bravura performance, while Combs plays off her with a sullen stupefaction that somehow seems adequate.
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Cast
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Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs
as Walter Lee Jr.
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Audra McDonald
as Ruth
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Phylicia Rashad
as Lena Younger
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Sanaa Lathan
as Beneatha
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Justin Martin
as Travis
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Bill Nunn
as Bobo
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David Oyelowo
as Joseph Asagai
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Ron C. Jones
as Willy Harris
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Sean Patrick Thomas
as George Murchison
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John Stamos
as Mr. Linder
