Movie · 1999 · Drama, Music · 2h 4m · PG · English
Curator score: 2.9/10 (20.5K ratings)
She gave them a gift they could never imagine. They gave the system a fight it would never forget.
Overview
After Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.9/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.18/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Metacritic: 54
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Wes Craven
Production
Craven-Maddalena Films, Miramax
Cast
Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan, Cloris Leachman, Josh Pais, Jane Leeves, Kieran Culkin, Charlie Hofheimer, Jay O. Sanders, Henry Dinhofer, Michael Angarano, Robert Ari, Teddy Coluca, Barbara Gonzalez, Jade Yorker, Victoria Gómez, Justin Pierre Edmund, Justin 'DJ' Spaulding, Zoe Sternbach-Taubman
Curator Review
Verdict
A sincere, old-school inspirational drama with a strong central performance and a surprisingly gentle touch from Wes Craven, but it leans heavily on familiar biopic beats and polished sentimentality. If you want a moving teacher-student story with real-world uplift, it works; if you need sharper writing or more complexity, it may feel too safe.
Best for
fans of earnest based-on-a-true-story dramas
viewers who like teacher-and-student uplift stories
Meryl Streep admirers
people curious about Wes Craven outside horror
Skip if
you dislike inspirational biopics
you want a gritty or unsentimental school drama
you are sensitive to schmaltz
you prefer films with more narrative surprise
Overview
Music of the Heart is one of those odd studio dramas that feels both conventional and slightly miraculous. Wes Craven brings a steadier, more humane hand than the premise might suggest, and Meryl Streep gives the film its emotional authority without overplaying the uplift.
Worth noting
The movie’s biggest strength is its warmth toward the kids and its belief in music as a form of discipline, dignity, and community. It also benefits from the real-world stakes of arts funding and public-school neglect, which give the story a little more weight than a standard feel-good formula.
Bottom line
Still, the film often settles for the expected inspirational arc, and some scenes push close to TV-movie sentiment. It’s a respectable, occasionally touching drama rather than a great one, but the combination of Streep, the subject, and Craven’s unusual detour makes it worth a look for the right audience.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Josh Lewis (2★) · 175 likes
Pretty astonishing to me that Wes Craven's dream project, and the movie he cashed all his chips on at the peak of his box office power making scream sequels, is one about a recently divorced Meryl Streep finding herself again by teaching inner-city kids how to play the violin and getting them into a star-studded, high-society Carnegie Hall benefit concert to raise funding for their school. I would love to reclaim this as a secret masterpiece and tell you that… more Pretty astonishing to me that Wes Craven's dream project, and the movie he cashed all his chips on at the peak of his box office power making scream sequels, is one about a recently divorced Meryl Streep finding herself again by teaching inner-city kids how to play the violin and getting them into a star-studded, high-society Carnegie Hall benefit concert to raise funding for their school. I would love to reclaim this as a secret masterpiece and tell you that… more
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 128 likes
STARRING: QUEEN BASSETT
So it became very obvious Bassett was going to have a very small role in this film, which she does a pretty good job, but honestly what kept me watching was the oddity of the film itself. I mean, narrative-wise, it’s pretty conventional (music) classroom drama with all the inspirational writing and character based on a real-life teacher. Streep plays the teacher in question, Roberta, which earned her an Oscar nomination, which to some extent I’d say… more
pearlcaddy (3.5★) · 92 likes
Prepare to be inspired by white people with black friends.
Kylo (3.5★) · 91 likes
This was so sweet. A beautiful, touching story. I love how Meryl just simply is whatever character she plays. It never feels like she’s acting. I loved seeing her alongside Angela Bassett. Maybe if I had a violin teacher like Meryl I wouldn’t have quit after one term.
Mr. DuLac (3★) · 48 likes
Good morning. Well, the good news is the tickets are selling like hotcakes. The bad news is, the kids sound like shit...-Roberta Guaspari
I was reminded of this film's existence every time I watched Scream 3 because one of the many inside jokes in the film is the director of Stab 3 (the fake film within a film) complaining that he was forced to make a horror movie to be given the chance to direct a romantic film, which… more
2002 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 52m · PG-13 · Curator 5.0/10 (348.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Disney Plus
Shares the feel-good underdog structure and the theme of pursuing a passion against expectations.
Topics
inspirational drama, biographical drama, music education, public school, coming-of-age, social issue, uplifting, sentimental, 1990s drama, teacher story