62
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The PlaylistRobert DanielsThe PlaylistRobert DanielsCharm City Kings is beautiful and important, unabashedly Black, yet rarely traumatic, and almost always determined statement. Soto has crafted an incredible empathetic narrative, one mile of road at a time.
- 91The A.V. ClubCarlos AguilarThe A.V. ClubCarlos AguilarCharm City Kings distinguishes itself from similar fare not just through its location and eye-popping bikes but also with the believably imperfect people that populate it.
- 75RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoIts abundance of plot contrivances in the final act and overly scripted dialogue hold it back from greatness, but two excellent performers overcome all of this familiarity. I can't want to see them again.
- 70Charm City Kings lands on an elegiac, bittersweet note rather than a happy one, and doesn’t feature as many crazy, exhilarating bike stunts as you might hope. But in its view of a world where kids make their own fun and also, sometimes, their own bad choices, it rings true. Sometimes becoming a man is the hardest stunt to pull off.
- 60Screen DailyAnthony KaufmanScreen DailyAnthony KaufmanSure, the motorcycle wheelies are cool, but there’s nothing more intense than the raw emotion that comes from a mother trying to protect her child.
- 60Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangCharm City Kings clearly knows what it’s doing; unfortunately, what it’s doing is often just as obvious to us.
- 50VarietyAmy NicholsonVarietyAmy NicholsonThe film’s truly ridiculous plot choices — the phony twists that make you leave the theater feeling like you’ve inhaled a tank of carbon monoxide — are its own invention, bolted onto a likable, if formulaic, charmer.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyThe Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulySadly, despite its title referencing a dirt bike gang, Charm City Kings doesn’t really show us anything we haven’t seen before. Unable to harness the story’s potential, the filmmakers instead deliver a mostly canned movie that flatlines 20 minutes before it comes to an end.
- 50Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSlant MagazineChris BarsantiThe film looks for an emotional payoff by continually upping the stakes of its main character’s self-destructive short-term thinking.