Music of the Heart

Music of the Heart (1999)

  • 62% of critics liked it
    (85 reviews)

  • 68% of users liked it
    (11,601 ratings)

After devoting his career to such horror films as Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Last House on the Left, director Wes Craven makes a dramatic change of pace with this inspiring drama about a teacher who helps change the lives of her students. Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras (Meryl Streep) teaches… More

PG, 2 hr. 4 min.
Directed By
Wes Craven
Written By
Pamela Gray
Genres
Drama, Kids & Family
In Theaters
Oct 29, 1999 Wide
On DVD
Jan 15, 2002
Miramax

Critic Reviews

  • Kevin Maynard, Mr. Showbiz

    Music is a calculated but effective film.

  • Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

    Moves with more dexterity than most dedicated-teacher flicks.

  • Peter Rainer, New York Magazine

    The tone of inspirational uplift is familiar from movies like Stand and Deliver and Mr. Holland's Opus -- which is to say, it's familiarly awful.

  • Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

    One of the year's most heartfelt movies.

  • Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle

    For its first three laps, this inspirational - teacher movie moves too slowly, even with the head start I give inspirational - teacher movies.

Read all 15 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • jay n


    Inspiring true story with good acting and a compelling narrative. A nice change of pace from Wes Craven.

  • Jennifer X


    it wasn't bad, despite the fact how much i despise the cliched inner city kids can do sports/be intelligent/sing/spell/play an instrument despite GREAT ODDS and there's always a random kid dying or doing drugs or something. and meryl streep is great at playing angry women.

  • Leigh R


    Very well done. The music is beautiful.

  • Jedd Y


    It was hard for me to sit through this film, because it was a big parade of wasted opportunities. The filmmakers had a good true story for their source material, good casting with Meryl Streep and most of the other actors, and best of all good music. But it was all lost on a terrible… More

  • Andrew F


    It is a really good movie. The Fiddlefest is really cool. Meryl Streep is great in it.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings

Cast

See full cast

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