Do the Right Thing
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
93
User score
Universal Acclaim
8.1
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
93
96% Positive
25 Reviews
25 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
Effortlessly moving from comedy to serious social comment, eliciting excellent performances from a large and perfectly selected cast, and making superb use of music both to create mood and comment on the action, Lee contrives to see both sides of each conflict without falling prey to simplistic sentimentality.
100
One of Lee's great successes with this film is that he is able to present every character, regardless of race, gender, or age, with three-dimensionality and a degree of sympathy. No one is demonized or lionized. No one individual is blamed or exonerated for the events which transpire. Each individual with significant screen time is shown to have good and bad qualities, and we come to understand what motivates them, even if we do not agree with them.
User score
Universal Acclaim
8.1
87% Positive
219 Ratings
219 Ratings
8% Mixed
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
5% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
Jun 26, 2025
10
In my opinion, it is still the greatest film ever created and I don't know if it will ever be over taken for that spot, at least in my eyes.
Jul 26, 2024
10
Do the Right Thing is an absolute rollercoaster of a film that leaves you laughing so hard your abs will feel like you've been doing crunches with a professional bodybuilder while also hitting you with enough thought-provoking moments to make you question if you accidentally enrolled in a philosophy class. Spike Lee's masterpiece is like an American Hot pizza – packed with flavour, sometimes a bit too hot to handle, but ultimately so satisfying that you'll be craving it again and again. With themes of racial integration, gentrification, and police brutality baked into its crust, this film deftly serves up a potent social commentary alongside the comedy. Plus, who knew a story about a pizza place could deliver such a delicious slice of life?
100
Witty portrait of a troubled community.
100
This is a sumptuous work, from its unconventional title sequence of a woman dancing hard in the streets to its provocative ending with conflicting quotes from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr .[30 June 1989, Friday, p.A]
90
It is a subtle and humane entertainment with a refreshingly serious view of the world.
80
This is a powerful and persuasive look at an ethnic community and what makes it tick.
60
To accept the film, though, one must first understand its point of view, and that is maddeningly difficult. All we know for certain is that Do the Right Thing is not naturalistic. [July 3, 1989]
May 3, 2023
10
Matthew Alexander "Matt" Sinegar [SIN-NA-GAR] (An EXTREMELY Mature & EXTREMELY Heterosexual (Straight) African-American/Black Man):
Do the Right Thing (1989) Is Literally Always One Of My All-Time Favorite Spike Lee Joints.
May 16, 2019
6
Great for the themes but it has a lot of issues with the narrative and the development is very messy.
I liked it but I really don't see the big deal with this one.
Sep 9, 2020
5
Spike Lee's celebrated magnum opus, Do the Right Thing, is too interesting and too thought-provoking to be bad. It's also too muddled, confused, and hateful to be worthy of my praise.
May 1, 2025
3
Terrible, silly crap. One of the worst comedy's ever created, nonsensical from start to finish.
Dec 6, 2013
2
Horrible movie. Sure, it raises a good point about how race relations turns into tragedy, but at the end, it just makes you hate everyone in the movie and wish for it to end. Ultimately, the only tragedy is how bad the movie wound up being. In addition, even before the "tragic" ending, it was beyond boring and I almost shut it off, but wanted to see how it would end. Boy was I disappointed.
Production Company:
- 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Release Date:Jun 30, 1989
Duration:2 h
Rating:R
Tagline:It's the hottest day of the summer. You can do nothing, you can do something, or you can...
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 4 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
20/20 Awards
• 3 Wins & 7 Nominations
