Rotten
The material is emotionally wrenching, but the actors play sociopolitical totems more than flesh-and-blood characters.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
Losing Isaiah
Who decides what makes a mother?
1995 · 1h 46m · R
Drama
Directed by
Stephen Gyllenhaal
Overview
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
45%
Tomatometer
Rotten
This is an absorbing and involving picture, but the terms propounded here limit the story, which depends almost entirely on emotions rather than on thought.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Fresh
This drama about interracial adoption is serious and affecting, thanks in large part to the presence of its two magnetic stars.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Fresh
Losing Isaiah transcends the custody issue and finds drama in the black-white polarities that neither character can escape.
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
Rotten
Not only does this lowest-common denominator conclusion backfire, it insults anyone who invested their time getting involved in the whole thing.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
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