User Reviews

You can argue over the merits of imagining what might have been said between these hugely significant figures during their real life meeting, but whatever your thoughts, One Night in Miami is a well written and performed piece of movie making.

top tier writing, acting and directing. definitely snubbed for best picture and director. kingsley ben-adir gave an oscar worthy performance as well. just absolutely amazing.

This movie is all about the dialogue: amazing way to show characters, themes and history.

what a jem of a show. very tightly paced with enough change of scene to support a dialogue show. bear in mind, it's an adaptation of a play. loved the dialogue and very deep script. no wonder malcolm x is nominated, very passionate multi-layered tortured and torn performance. i loved sam cooke too as mohd ali was over the top. thought i would gave up half way as there's suddenly too many african american themed movies in the awards running. but this really hooked for all the 2 hrs. watch because it's really hard to make a show just on real dialogue and real acting. At least Da 5 blds had a lot of blown up scenes and shootings to anchor around.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Would have been better if the story actually went somewhere, the first half and probably more seemed unimportant and only the last 30 mins or so were actually interesting and showed something worth seeing

bruh what is this movie......there is no literal point cuz nuthing like this actually happened in real life.......i'm pretty sure the four never met in real life.....this movie is a **** bout you make a movie based on only one of them......utter garbage

The director actors and writes did an amazing job. I enjoyed this movie very much.

“This is one strange f**king night.” ‘One Night in Miami’ is exactly what the title suggests; the movie is about one night, one night only, where four icons: Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and Sam Cooke meet up at a motel room for a fictionalized meeting. Could you imagine what that would be like? Well, here you go. We see them hanging out at this motel, sharing laughter, and fooling around, taking the time to breath in that chilly night air on the roof top, a little break from their eventful lives. However, they debate on each other’s characteristics, as they all discuss the pros and cons of each other. All points are equal and made for an interesting conversation. An impressive direct debut from Regina King, who already being an actor herself knows how to get great performances from these actors. While not visually striking, but the way the movie manages to re-create a couple of legendary shots like Muhammad Ali’s underwater training are the best kind of tribute to them. This is very much an “actors movie” because they all take certain stage and deliver superb performances. Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, Eli Goree as Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), and Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown were all equally fantastic as these recognisable figures of history. Particularly Leslie Odam Jr. as Sam Cooke, who also did an amazing job of singing/performing. I can easily see this turning into a stage production in the late future. There's theatrical potential here.

Based on Kemp Powers's play by the same name, filmmaker Regina King's directorial debut about a historic 1964 meeting among activist Malcolm X, boxing great Cassius Clay, football star Jim Brown and singer-producer Sam Cooke on the night of Clay becoming world champ explores the state of the civil rights movement at the time and how each of them viewed its future and their role in it. This captivating look at the movement from the inside presents a balanced examination of the four friends' views on the subject, including both their areas of concurrence and disagreement and how those pointed opinions had the potential to either tear them apart or bring them together. The excellent ensemble cast of Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge and Leslie Odom Jr. enlivens the superbly penned screenplay, giving the picture a crackling intensity that's tautly sustained throughout. And, despite a few stagey segments, this is arguably one of the best theatre-to-screen translations I've ever seen, effectively opening up the source material and giving it breathing room that such adaptations often lack. King has indeed produced a magnificent work here, handily serving up the right picture for our times, one that gives us all much to ponder in terms of where we are and where we go from here.

Watching the actors play these legends on screen was almost like watching the legends play themselves. They all did such an amazing job capturing the gravitas of each icon from their mannerisms down to their personalities. Hard to believe that this was Regina King's directorial debut. It seems as if she'd been doing this for ages. Can't wait for her next effort.

Very slow starting movie. Solid performances by the four leads. Still felt like watching a play and not a movie. Impressive first film by Regina King.

The actors do an amazing job delivering the dialogue in such a way that you believe it must have happened that way. Each conversation between any two of the characters delivers a nugget of understanding for those of us who were not alive in the 60s, and know these famous figures solely from their public details. The interactions between these four characters by these brilliant actors is the most fun I’ve had watching historical fiction in a very long time.

This movie was powerful, insightful and beautifully done. Regina King did an amazing job

A fictionalized account of a meeting in a hotel room between four legends: civil rights leader Malcolm X, boxer Cassius Clay (later named Muhammad Ali), football player-turned actor Jim Brown, and singer Sam Cooke. This is the basic premise of the film, and it's mostly the performances and impactful dialogue that keep it afloat. I found the premise highly intriguing, even if it's only fictionalized. Nevertheless, the four leads all give heartfelt, charming, and awards-worthy performances. Of course, all of this wouldn't have been possible without Regina King's brilliant and confident direction, made all the more impressive given that it's her debut as a director. Overall, King and her actors all come together to turn a pretty basic and straightforward premise into a tour de force of emotion and performance.

(Mauro Lanari) In 1990 Gore Vidal, Venice Film Festival jury president, behaved like many today with this work, and caused a scandal with a "very fragile opinion, at the limits of ridicule": "for him the true author of the film is not the director but the writer, the one who drew up the script and screenplay" (Beniamino Placido: ****/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1990/09/22/venezia-scatenata-la-vendetta.html). If true, then the debutant Regina King with Kemp Powers and his stage play should be judged for the script published directly as a literary text, if she does not know how to transform it into a different code, the audiovisual one of cinema that demands the "instant cult" of shots and sequences that should scratch the so-called collective imagination, while in this case, seen (heard?) the slew of chatter about chatter, soliloquies, monologues, dialogues, I dozed off. Long live "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" (Stoppard 1990) and the endless reboot of "The Big Sleep" [Hawks 1946].

The mere thought of these four figures in the same room is mindblowing. Regina King directed a thoughtful and performance rich film! If you by chance know of any of these four people the film revolves around, it sets a special tone and therefore makes a great watch.

It's great to watch a film with so great acting, directing, and writing. Sure, 'One Night in Miami' it's strictly conventional visually and narratively speaking. Still, the diverse topics it conveys about black liberation and the role of black voices in the community make you get involved all the way. This is an essential movie.

Beautifully written accompanied by 4 brilliant performances. Really enjoyed !

Regina King came in on an absolute mission. An incredible discourse of black voices. The whole film flows from scene to scene with only a few exceptions of drag. I really like the sound editing that actively helps us feel like we're in the minds of the characters. A great ensemble cast that flourished under King's direction, with stand out Kingsley Ben-Adir as well as Leslie Odom Jr.'s silky silky voice.

Poignant themes of race and the diverse array of black viewpoints on display in this dynamic script. All four of the principal cast produce layered and rich performances, Ben-Adir and Odom are standouts. King's career off with a bang.

Solid flick if a little slow at times. Aldis Hodge is amazing as Jim Brown. The Same Cooke discussion of Bob Dylan was also pretty amazing. Certainly worth seeing - the screenwriter(s) did a nice job theorizing on what these conversations might have been like.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

"One Night..." was decent. Nothing spectacular. The dialogue was forced and unrealistic. Not enough happens. The actors look like they are rehearsing instead of performing. It's too bad because a great movie is hidden somewhere within this story, but it never came through for me.

This movie was more interesting than I thought.. it was beautifully made. That open up about black superstars who movies and changed the world with the gifts God gave them and how they inspired each other to be Great

Really good debut for Regina King. Many powerful dialogues and great performances by Kingsley Ben-Adir and Leslie Odom Jr.

Regina King in her directorial debut gets a solid film. And it helps her that the script is based on a play because from her own experience as an actress, she seems to know very well what is the best she can get from her actors, besides that she manages to prevent the characters from becoming caricatures, considering the class of recognized figures they are. But the problems are triggered by the lack of a clear narrative structure and that Regina King is unable to give a faster pace to her film. It's not that the famous protagonists stop being interesting, it's only the situations lose impact by not being able to become more active. One Night in Miami doesn't turn out to be a bad film, but what it represents, despite being convincing, is not enough to carry the full weight of the story. Good, but just an average good

This fictional account takes place in 1964, after Cassius Clay (soon to be called Muhammad Ali) defeated heavy weight champion Sonny Liston. He’s joined by his friends Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown, all icons in their fields. After introducing up each member of the group in their own world, the rest of the movie takes place in a hotel room where the 4 men discuss their careers and their involvement in the civil rights movement. Since this is based on a play, director Regina King has expanded the locales a bit, but she’s kept the interactions compelling. The quartet of actors are all exceptional, embodying their characters with depth and complexity. While there are personal moments that reveal their humanity, much of the dialogue revolves around political messages. Even so, it’s an interesting deliberation in an engaging package.

Good performances, but until the third act things feel a bit aimless and devoid of true drama.

Impressive Directorial Debut from Regina King with One Night in Miami: "One Night in Miami," the directorial debut from Oscar-winner Regina King, is an impressive film adaptation of the 2013 play by Kemp Powers, who also serves as the movie's screenwriter. It's a fictionalized account of a meeting in a motel in February 1964 between 4 Icons, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), NFL legend, Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.), after Cassius Clay's boxing win and defeat of Sonny Liston in Miami. Primarily conversational, the men discuss their place in the civil rights movement, culture, fame and their mutual brotherly respect and love. Excellent performances by all 4 actors. Only drawback for me, being a South Floridian, I wish the film was actually shot in Florida, as opposed to Louisiana; however, Kudos to the location and production designers for the beautiful re-creation of a (near)Liberty City Hampton House Motel, and the Fontainebleau Hotel Miami Beach, all in Early 1960's style and decor.