Joe Bell

Joe Bell is painful, sincere. Its most optimistic and substantial strand is its belief in the possibility of, not forgiveness for the unaccepting, but acceptance in itself

Wahlberg, who's one of the producers, presumably saw the film as a departure. He's required to do more emoting here than in maybe all of his previous movies combined. He's up to the challenge.

Though it sometimes feels treacly and hackneyed, or even predictable,"Joe Bell" resists expectation, and where this true story ends up is far more poignant and devastating than any work of fiction could be.

It's incredibly formulaic and mawkish, although its heart is obviously in the right place.

An occasionally moving film that misses its chance at greatness.

It's a bridge-building piece of Americana that doesn't let anyone off the hook, although the closing upbeat/inspirational notes seem a bit odd.

The title implies that Joe’s story is the focus, yet the unnecessarily convoluted narrative bounces too much between past and present as well as the POVs of father (Mark Wahlberg, playing against his usual jacked, macho persona) and son (Reid Miller).

Didn’t expect to be this emotionally wrecked this morning. 
Mark turns in what might be one of his best performances of his career.

The entire film is unfocused, creating a bit of a mess that left me rotating between rolling my eyes and having tears steaming out of them.

The film stays in a mosaic of superficiality... it doesn't reach a reflective peak.