We already knew that Larry King, Jack Valenti, and Michael Medved love "The Other Side of Heaven."
Lots of reviews of "The Other Side of Heaven" from around the country were published when the movie was released nationally on 12 April 2002.
The Associated Press reviewer, a critic in Pennsylvania and one in Las Vegas seemed to like it quite a bit. There are multiple reviews from Pennsylvania: 1 of 3 Pennsylvania critics gave quite a favoriable rating to the movie, while the other Pennsylvania critics gave middle-of-the-road reviews.
The other critics around the country... Well, maybe they need to spend more time in Las Vegas or Utah.
In a slew of reviews surveyed nationwide, much of the criticism was not of Mitch Davis' filmmaking, but of the fact that a white person was bringing Christianity to Tongans, which many reviewers said seemed imperialistic.
Looking for silver linings... Nearly every reviewers noted the visual appeal of the movie. Many praised the acting. Not a single reviewer suggested that Latter-day Saints aren't Christians, and nearly all specifically referred to Latter-day Saints as Christians. There was only one or two specifically anti-Mormon comments. (One reviewer said that Groberg's promise to love only Jean Sabin -- just one woman -- was apparently a betrayal of a key tenet of his faith. A web-based reviewer called Mormons the "scariest nice people in the world.")
Multiple reviewers thought John Groberg was too good, too righteous, to sustain a dramatic film. But like I said, the big complaint was the idea of a foreigner bringing a different culture to Tonga. But this was something that most reviewers associated with "white people" or Westerners -- not with Mormons specifically. A few reviewers associated it with general Christian proselytizing. Lots of ink about this. Which, some might say, is a criticism of historical events, and not of the film itself.
But, looking at the actual number/letter scores given by the reviewers... Things don't look as bad. A LOT of the scores are "two-and-one-half stars" (out of 4). In fact, out of the 26 major newspapers in which we found a star-scored review of "Heaven", 14 gave the movie 2 1/2 stars.
(My comments above refer only to the reviews from around the nation that were published this weekend. But I've included URLs, quotes and scores from older reviews below.)
Numerical average of these graded scores: 54.3 (out of 100)
Average score is 2.2 stars out of 4, or a "C+"
RottenTomatoes.com freshness score: 25%
25 reviews counted: 9 positive; 27 negative
[In the table below, the column labeled "RT.c" shows a plus or minus sign, indicating whether the RottenTomatoes.com website rated the review mainly positive (+) or negative (-). Reviews with nothing in the "RT.c" column (that is, they have no plus or minus by them, were not catalogued by the RottenTomatoes.com website, and are not included in the RottenTomatoes.com score.]
| Source | Review Author | RT.c | Grade | Grade as # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryce's Movie Domain | Bryce | 4/4 | 100 | |
| Grading the Movies.com | Rod Gustafson | + | A- | 92 |
| MoveNephite.com | Colin Liddle | B+ | 84 | |
| Christian Spotlight on the Movies | Ken James | 4 stars (out of 5) | 78 | |
| Christian Science Monitor | Lisa Leigh Parney | 3/4 | 75 | |
| Kalamazoo Gazette | James Sanford | + | 3/4 | 75 |
| St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Joe Williams | 3/4 | 75 | |
| Winston-Salem Journal | Mark Burger | 3/4 | 75 | |
| Dove Foundation | John Adair | 3/4 | 75 | |
| JLB Movies | Jonathan L. Bowen | 3/4 | 75 | |
| TempleSquare.com | Chris | 3/4 | 75 | |
| Gospelcom.net | Entertainment: +1 1/2 Acceptability: +1 [scale of -4 to +4] | 69 | ||
| OOFnet Cinema | 6.8 out of 10 | 68 | ||
| Associated Press (AP) | Sheila Norman-Culp | B- | 67 | |
| Fresno Bee | Donald Munro | B- | 67 | |
| DVD Talk | Don Houston | 3 1/2 (out of 5) | 67 | |
| Sun Newspapers of Cleveland | Gerry Shamray | 2 1/2 dollar signs (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Washington Times | Gary Arnold | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey | + | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 |
| Boston Herald | James Verniere | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Daily Southtown (Chicago) | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | ||
| Minnapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune | Jeff Strickler | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Ed Blank | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Austin Chronicle | Kimberley Jones | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Chicago Tribune | Robert K. Elder | - | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 |
| Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | ||
| Quad-Cities Times | Linda Cook | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Salt Lake Tribune | Sean P. Means | + | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 |
| Deseret News | Jeff Vice | + | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 |
| Ogden Standard-Examiner | Steve Salles | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 | |
| Steve Rhodes' Internet Reviews | Steve Rhodes | - | 2 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 63 |
| Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | 6 out of 10 | 60 | ||
| Apollo Guide | Jon Lap | - | 59 (out of 100) | 59 |
| Utah County Daily Herald / Land of Eric | Eric D. Snider | - | C+ | 59 |
| Las Vegas Review-Journal | Carol Cling | C+ | 59 | |
| Ke Alaka'i | Carrie McKnight | C+ | 59 | |
| Planet Tonga | Lisiate Wolfgramm | C+ | 59 | |
| Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan | - | 3/5 | 56 |
| Boxoffice Magazine | Wade Major | + | 3/5 | 56 |
| MovieMom.com | Nell Minow | + | 3 checkmarks (out of 5) | 56 |
| The Arizona Republic | Richard Nilsen | 3 stars (out of 5) | 56 | |
| The Gainesville Daily Register | 3 stars (out of 5) | 56 | ||
| Calgary Sun | Louis B. Hobson | 3 stars (out of 5) | 56 | |
| About.com Latter-day Saints Forum | Pauly Long | 3 stars (out of 5) | 56 | |
| New York Post | Lou Lumenick | - | 2 stars (out of 4) | 50 |
| Detroit Free Press | John Monaghan | 2 stars (out of 4) | 50 | |
| San Diego Union Tribune | Sandi Dolbee | 2 stars (out of 4) | 50 | |
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Ron Weiskind | 2 stars (out of 4) | 50 | |
| Abilene Reporter-News | 2 stars (out of 4) | 50 | ||
| San Francisco Chronicle | Edward Guthmann | - | 2/4 | 50 |
| CitySearch.com | Jonathan Taylor | 2 stars (out of 4) | 50 | |
| Entertainment Weekly | Chris Willman | - | C | 50 |
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution | C | 50 | ||
| Dallas Morning News | Al Brumley | - | C | 50 |
| Pacifica Tribune | FAIR | 50 | ||
| Orlando Weekly | Steve Schneider | - | 2 1/2 stars (out of 5) | 45 |
| Seattle Times | Melanie McFarland | - | 1.5/4 | 38 |
| St. Paul Pioneer Press | Chris Hewitt | - | 1 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 38 |
| Miami Herald | Connie Ogle | 1 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 38 | |
| Compuserve.com | Harvey S. Karten | - | 1 1/2 stars (out of 4) | 38 |
| The Des Moines Register | Jeffrey Bruner | - | 2 stars (out of 5) | 34 |
| TV Guide Online | Ken Fox | - | 2 stars (out of 5) | 34 |
| Detroit News | Michael O'Sullivan | - | 1 star (out of 4) | 25 |
| New Zealand Herald | Peter Calder | 1 star (out of 4) | 25 | |
| Reel Movie Critic.com | Shelley Cameron | - | 1 star (out of 4) | 25 |
| Newsday / L.A. Times | Jan Stuart | - | 1 star (out of 4) | 25 |
| Cinema Source Capsule Reviews | 1 star (out of 4) | 25 | ||
| B. Fatt & Lazy Movie Reviews | B. Fatt | 1.0 out of 4.0 | 25 | |
| OneGuysOpinion.com | Frank Swietek | - | D | 25 |
| E! Online | - | D | 25 | |
| Haro Online | Mongoose | Pretty Bad | 17 | |
| CultureDose.com | Rachel Gordon | - | 1 star (out of 5) | 12 |
| Orlando Sentinel | Jay Boyar | - | 1 star (out of 5) | 12 |
| Source | Review Author | RT.c |
|---|---|---|
| South Florida Sun-Sentinel | Laura Kelly | + |
| Spirituality & Health Magazine | Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat | + |
| New York Times | Stephen Holden | - |
| Village Voice | Ed Park | - |
| Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt | - |
| New Times Los Angeles | Gregory Weinkauf | - |
| FlickFilosopher.com | MaryAnn Johanson | - |
| Source | Author | +/- |
|---|---|---|
| Variety | Scott Foundas | positive |
| United Press International (UPI) | Steve Sailer | positive |
| U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops | positive | |
| "Around Town", 9News.com (Denver TV) | Kirk Montgomery | positive |
| Family Filmgoer (nat'l column: L.A. Times, Washington Post, etc.) | Jane Horwitz | positive |
| Utah County Journal | Ron C. Eggertsen | positive |
| Utah Valley State College College Times | Scott Champion | positive |
| Meridian Magazine | Karl Bowman | positive |
| Mormon News | Blair Larsen | positive |
| Dark Horizons | MaoriFett | positive |
| Nitrate Online | Gregory Avery | mixed |
| Arizona Daily Star | Phil Villareal | negative |
| L.A. Weekly | Ron Stringer | negative |
| Baltimore City Paper | Adele Marley | negative |
| Kansas City Star | Loey Lockerby | negative |
| Orange County Register | Craig Outhier | negative |
| The Onion AV Club | Nathan Rabin | negative |