Rating: 
Summary: one of the best-made recent movies for viewers
Review: I truly loved this film.
I am an avid movie buff and love foriegn films, the majesty of coloration and settings in films like the Kill Bill series, odd momentum of films and settings like in Lost in Translation, and the directing in Mystic River. Recently, despite these films, I have felt curiously jaded as a movie-goer until I saw In America.
This film captures your hopes and your heart. It is in the tradition of grand old movies and one of the best I have seen in years.
The other reviews have told you the story of the immigrant family facing a loss retreating to America to salve their wounds/guilts and instill hope in the future. The acting is phenomenal. Samantha Morton as the mother is exposed emotions. The Bolger sisters as sisters in the story are remarkable. Their acting so facile and believable. Mateo (Housou) is a true presence. Bravo to director Sheridan( My Left Foot, In The Name OF The Father) for another winner.
I understand the dedication at the end of the filmm was for Sheridan's own 10yearold brother Frankie which makes the film even more poignant.Maybe it will be maudlin for some, but it was my cup of tea.
A must see film. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A joyful film about grief and loss
Review: Despite a few cliches (spunky but poor Irish immigrant family; preternaturally mature child narrator), this film does a beautiful job of addressing the central question for anyone who has suffered the death of a loved one: how to endure the enormity of that loss without squandering the gift of life itself. The film doesn't bludgeon the viewer with excessive scenes of the parents' conflicts and grief over the death of their son, but rather emphasizes more quirky and original aspects of the family's experiences from the two girls' points of view. Without giving away the plot, I can only say that the device used to introduce the family's downstairs neighbor works well in this case to underscore the film's main theme. Wonderful acting by all the principals, and the little girls are exquisite. Joy and sadness are perfectly balanced -- perhaps a little too perfectly -- but with delightful results.
Rating: 
Summary: Call me a sucker, but I liked this movie
Review: Call me a sucker, but I fall for movies like this. Sure, it could have been an over the top sentimental movie, but the suburb acting and cinematography saved it. The movie deals with death and redemption and the hope that America offers for those who have lost all hope. Grieving from the death of their two-year-old son, an Irish family illegally immigrates to America to make a fresh start. Yes, the film could have easily fallen into a formula flick, but the superb performances by Samantha Morton (the mother) and Emma Bolger (the youngest daughter) save the show. They are simply riveting. Throughout the movie we see a struggle for faith. The lost faith of the father, the struggling faith of the mother and the persistent faith of the children, especially of Ariel, the youngest. How does one deal with the death of a child? Statistically most marriages do not survive a death of a child, the guilt, the accusations, the ifs become overwhelming. The Sullivans run away from Ireland but they cannot run away from their inner demons, they must be faced. This is also a story about in America. The Sullivans make their new home in a drug-invested ghetto in Manhattan. Despite their poverty, they see America as hope for redemption as a family. The motley crew of characters they encounter show what makes America great- different people, different cultures come together to be something they were not before- Americans.
Rating:
Summary: Emotionally Honest and Fulfilling
Review: Director Jim Sheridan ("In The Name Of The Father", "My Left Foot") has crafted one of the most emotionally honest and satisfying films in years. Paddy Considine (solid and tender) and Samantha Morton (emanating subtlety) star as Irish parents of two young girls who move to New York City to pursue Paddy's acting. The move is also a distraction from the recent loss of their young son. The summer heat is oppressive, the living conditions are near squalor and the local residents are junkies. Despite this gloom and terrible poverty, the family thrives happily, mostly due to the amazing resilience and resolve of the two young daughters. The loss of their son and an impending dangerous pregnancy are set against a backdrop of constant near danger and immense naivety (yet remarkable intuition) of the girls. Mateo, (Djimon Hounsou) the AIDS stricken painter downstairs befriends the girls and provides some of the most frightening and yet emotionally substantial moments in the film. Sheridan can take simple scenes like gambling the families rent money on a carnival doll for his child and turn it into pure suspense. The family is always in near crisis, yet they survive day by day, relishing everything those 'in America' take for granted. Sheridan portrays a wonderful story of loss, survival and love, but never becomes maudlin or overly sentimental. This is a rare film about real emotions.
Rating:
Summary: Oh wow wow wow
Review: This is a movie for everyone to love. It's a feel-good film without being sappy or dorky. It's about the immigrant experience, about life and death, about risk and faith and trust, about grief and joy. Who could ask for anything more than what this film delivers?
At its heart, it's the story of an Irish couple whose 5yo son has recently died. They and their two little girls slip into NY via the Canadian border and rent a dreadfully skuzzy flat in a the-elevator-hasn't-worked-for-years tenement populated by "drug addicts and transvestites." A friendship develops with a dying artist when the girls (soooooo well played by Sarah and Emma Bolger) bang and bang and bang on his door on Halloween - and this friendship slips into a bit of magical realism and becomes the catalyst to help the little family begin healing from the guilt and grief under which they've been trapped for too long.
Gorgeous movie. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: It's Easy to Fall in Love With the Sullivan Family
Review: I missed IN AMERICA when it was in the theaters, and I vowed not to miss it when it was released in DVD. The reviews of the film were excellent, and I knew I would enjoy an Irish family moving to the United States. I decided to purchase the DVD rather than rent it, knowing that when I saw it I would enjoy it, complain about a few clichés, and put it away to view it again in a year or so. I certainly expected it to be somewhat lighter fair, in the same category as WAKING NED DIVINE. I was hardly prepared for the dramatic intensity of the film. The story tells of a young couple, Johnny and Sarah Sullivan (Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton respectively) who move from Ireland to New York with their two daughters after the tragic death of a younger son. The parents are too busy trying to care for the children to attend to their own grief which provides for much of the film's conflict. The two daughters Christy and Ariel, played by real life sisters Emily and Sarah Bolger, are endearing, and see a magical side to an area of New York most people would avoid at all costs. This seems to be due less to the fact that they have left rural Ireland for the big city (Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Limerick have their share of seedy neighborhoods infested with drugs and poverty), but rather it is due to their outlook on life. The family befriends a neighbor who is dying from AIDS who allows the family to deal with its own loss and celebrate life once again. While the plot of this movie has been retold in many different ways in film and literature, IN AMERICA has many qualities that make it outstanding. Writer and director Jim Sheridan is able to capture the girls' innocence remarkably well. Johnny and Sarah are authentically Irish yet they have a universal appeal. New York City is colorful even in the midst of pain and tragedy. Family life is celebrated yet the conflicts are real. Perhaps what made this film most outstanding in my eyes is that even though I instinctively knew how the film would probably end, it still held my interest and had a degree of suspense to it. This only happens when a film captures a viewer's heart while respecting the viewer's intelligence.
Rating: 
Summary: decent acting, but the story was slow at times
Review: In America is about an Irish family illegally entering the U.S. after their son has died from cancer. The story follows their transition to life in New York City: getting jobs, going to school, and coping with the son's death. There are a lot of enjoyable and touching scenes of life in a poor neighborhood, but it also dragged on at many points in between. The acting is generally good, but the most interesting characters are the two daughters. The parents were in a more supporting role and I found little to like about them. In my opinion, you not only must be in the right mood to enjoy such a slow paced movie about the mundane, but the story must also connect with the audience and for me it did not work. In contrast, I did enjoy Lost in Translation, which is another film about ordinary life, because I liked the characters and could relate to the story. While I do not regret watching this movie, I found myself fast forwarding through much of the second half of it.
Rating:
Summary: Touching
Review: I have read a couple reviews in which people commented on how unrealistic parts of this movie was: how the junkies in the neighborhood would have been much worse in real life, how the air conditioning scene was unrealistic. Please. Anyone who wastes their time analyzing a movie based on its realism, unless it is advertised as "A 100% TRUE DOCUMENTARY", should be thrown from the Empire State Building. (As a side note, just last week I walked 4 blocks with an air conditioner in tow and dealt with the 'plug' issue...after which I had to take about 10 showers to cool down.) The acting of the children, as mentioned, was wonderful and believable. The adults paled in comparison, but any quirks can be overlooked. If you don't like this movie, as several people have mentioned, then you truly are cold blooded and heartless. I think these negative reviewers were angry that the city, while full of promise, did not eventually suck all the life out of the family and leaves it in shambles. Well, sorry! NYC, with all its flaws, really does have a big heart for people who are willing to share theirs. Like any place and any time, sometimes life doesn't work out like a fairy tale. Well, neither does this story - but it does offer a positive message of hope and family and shows that good things DO happen to good people. Be warned, I cried through at least 50% of the movie and I'm a big macho dude! I loved it and will recommend it to everyone I know.
Rating:
Summary: dont look past this movie!
Review: This one slipped be me as I sifted through muddy waters of hollywood. But when i went back I found this piece of gold. Please dont make the mistake I did by branding this a movie about some immigrants living in America. When you look at it like that it just becomes a lesson out of a history book. The Irish family of four comes to America escaping the death of their only son which is ?caused? by a fall down the stairs and strickens the young parents with grief and guilt. The family looks to "the man who screams" (Mateo), thier neighbor, for some vitality in life. Ironically, Mateo himself is battling for his own life. Some critics said this was too emotional. I say get out of your little bubble of comfort. Breathtaking performances by each of the four family members, but the real life sisters that played the daughters make Mary Kate and Ashley look like a sick joke. This is Gold!
Rating:
Summary: Maudlin and a bit underwhelming
Review: I was keenly disappointed by this film, director Jim Sheridan's highly praised semi-autobiographical memoir of his family's emigration from Ireland to New York City in the early 1980s, when the city's grimy decay was still at a peak. There are moving moments, but overall, the film felt mechanistic and poorly realized, and the acting was only so-so. I was charmed by Emma Bolger, the little girl who played his youngest daughter, and to a lesser extent by her sister, Sarah Bolger, who was a little on the precious side. The adult actors were uniformly unimpressive -- Samantha Morton's character never really takes shape or emerges emotionally; male lead Paddy Considine has some interesting qualities, but consistently overacts his parts, and African actor Djimon Hounsou intones portentiously, in a rather bland and too-easy manner. I just didn't feel like I was seeing much subtlety onscreen, and while the film has some appeal, it never really moved me. Maybe that's only because I'm such a heartless bastard. Or maybe it's because the film wasn't really that well made.
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