Good Fences (2003 TV Movie) User Reviews (28)

Powerfully acted but winds up somewhere other than where it seemed to be headed

[herbqedi · 7/10 · 7 October 2013]

The first 2/3 of this movie is so real and so subtle (OK, so Whoopi looks 30 years older than her girlfriends in the early scenes). It is the story of the American dream for Tom (Danny Glover) an African- American man gone awry. We learn that he was badly scarred during his youth in Tennessee for beating a white boy in a state spelling bee and coming within an eyelash of being lynched as a consequence. He meets and marries Mabel (Whoopi) even though her father doesn't care for him, gets his law degree, and moves to the mixed lower-middle-class New Haven Suburb of Hamden, CT. When we come in, Tom is struggling to get noticed in his law firm when he attracts fame and his career catapults upwards through his defense of a notorious local doctor accused of nefarious crimes.

So, we move on up to Greenwich where the family integrates the neighborhood and we watch son Tom-Too and daughter Stormy grow up while Tom continues to climb the ladder of success and gets appointed to the Superior Court where he derives special satisfaction from giving his heaviest sentences to African-American offenders. Meanwhile, Mabel tries very hard to follow Tom's advice to become in with the neighbors and gradually changes herself without realizing it by distancing herself from her maid who had been her friend and winds up having little in common with her friends and family back in Hamden. Both children see these changes but react in opposite ways with Tom-Too determined to success but not losing touch with his roots while Stormy tries to become every white man's fantasy.

As we get toward the climax is where I start to get lost. This is why I must use spoilers which I almost never do. Monique plays, extremely well as usual, a Southern African-American who wins the Lotto and moves to Greenwich, having frequent family visits and parties with the very "low-class, chicken-neck eating "N's" that Tom has worked his whole life to distance himself from. Mabel obeys his commands to keep her distance from Monique. But, when Monique tries to buy the house on the other side of them, where her neighbor was killed by her abusive husband, something Mabel wanted to alert the police to, but followed Tom's command to ignore, Tom orders Mabel to use subterfuge to delay/subvert the purchase and Mabel anesthetizes herself with a combination of pills and booze and passes house. Tom, seeing this, takes matters into his own hands and burns the empty house down.

This is where the film, to me, seems to decide to change course rather than playing out its hand. After the arson, Tom lays down next to his fallen wife, face down on the bed, and goes into a trance-like sleep remembering his near-lynching. Instead of dying from an O/D which is what I was expecting this "American-Dream-gone-very-wrong" tale to do next, Mabel (now acting more like the real Whoopi persona we know) wakes up and takes charge, facilitating Tom-too to do what is calling to him (going to Morehouse College in lieu of Princeton), deciding some good honest housework is what she needs to start reclaiming her own soul, and making great friends with neighbor Monique. What happened to Tom remains rather a mystery to me. Mostly, he is in pajamas and oblivious in some sort of trance the rest of the movie once he agrees to sign Tom- Too's permission forms. The police have written off the arson as some sort of teenage initiation so that threat is gone. But, it is unclear whether Tom is still a judge, whether he's had the same type of change of heart as his wife, or whether he can function professionally at all. It was certainly a happier resolution than I was expecting. The two children are off doing their own thing and while we're not sure Stomrny's will end up well, that is not explored. And Whoopi is redeeming herself and will be a very different neighbor than the token friend their neighbor's had before. I generally like happy endings but this one just didn't quite ring true. I would like more told to me than to try to infer what was happening to Tom. We had been brought so far into his psyche before - and then he's just marginalized. That would be okay with me if it was explained.

All said, I obviously found the whole thing absorbing enough and provocative enough to write a semi-novel about. Please see it yourself and if you have your own thoughts on the ending you wish to share,please e-mail me at [e-mail]

A moderately decent movie

[lakelandjim · 6/10 · 24 April 2005]

A moderately decent movie, one that takes a lot of attention to get the full gist of the story since it goes back and forth in flashbacks, few of which really add to the film..

Definitely plays like a vanity film for Glover and Goldberg. Contains some interesting commentary on racial attitudes and the fluidity of racial identity.

Biggest drawback is that several different threads are grafted together (pardon the mixed metaphor) without adding to the story. Is this a story about the generation gap? Racism? Class identity? So difficult to tell.

Breaking from the mold ..

[nrdean · 17 February 2003]

I believe some of the past "critics" are delving too deep. I don't believe this movie was supposed to be a upbeat comedy of such. This is a dark comedy/drama and a portrayal of the way a specific family dealt with engaging with the white community in a time when that was not easily done. I believe the scenes with 'Mabel' showing the bored housewife over the course of many years shows how more and more depressed over the situation she has become. She has lost touch with herself, her identity, her roots. She makes a statement saying that all she has to do is "listen to Tom" instead of listening to God. The son feels as if he is out of touch with his "people" and struggles to regain that sense of himself, while the sister shows that in the end, she has rejected all that makes her Black. Tom has let the influence of his childhood (almost getting lynched, struggling against white America) influence how he acts in the present. He rejects the things that make him unique (being Black), even though those things impact everything about him daily. This movie has little to do with "racial motivations" and such. It has more to do with Blacks finding their way while not losing themselves in a predominately white world. This movie is a great movie to show the other side of the coin. Black people (and minorities of color) have to deal with trying to fit in to multiple "lives" and find a way to incorporate all of them without losing a sense of self. Danny and Whoopi did a great job of portraying this, even if it did obviously make others thumb up their noses.

It lacked... everything.

[AnalogCafe · 1/10 · 11 June 2004]

I find myself wondering what the people who gave this a 10 saw in it that I didn't. This movie has a VERY hard time following and/or staying to a plot. If someone tells you it's a comedy, don't be fooled, it's about 98% percent odd-drama and 2% comedy. All actors turn in a great performance, that cannot be denied, however it seems like it really lost something somewhere. Don't know if the original script was good and it had to be edited down or what. This had potential, and instead it was really a flop. I would really like the hour and a half I invested in this movie back, but the video rental place doesn't do returns on time. Save your money and see something else.

Monique can only play ONE character!!

[mimiybyazphil · 3/10 · 18 March 2022]

This movie was ok, but, the presense of Monique,playing HARD CORE GHETTO, as usual ruined it for me! The idea that anyone, let alone a Black woman, would leave sunny Florida to move to cold, snowy Conneticut is ridiculous! Another thing that bothered me is Whoopi's AWFUL looking wigs!

Not for everyone.

[lambiepie-2 · 10/10 · 9 November 2003]

This movie will not sit well with some, but it is a must view. I am glad someone finally brought up for discussion the realities of HOW African American couples worked to make a name in communities and how many of them felt trying to stay there as "other" African Americans moved in.

(Minor Spoilers)

This little Showtime film is almost like a Spike Lee Joint...you have an African American male (Danny Glover) who worked his way HARD through the traditionally white law profession positions in the 1970's. Like ANY American, he moved his family to be compatable with his upwardly mobile status but forgot, there was still alot of problems going on. The only African Americans in the neighborhood at the time was the maids. One owning a home? Wow.

Then the blending in began. His wife (Whoopi Goldberg) is told to "get involved" so she does what all the other women in her neighborhood do. And just when the man thinks he and his family are "in", right next door comes another African American who got in because they won the "lotto" (Mo'nique), and in his eyes and he wants nothing to do with them for he doesn't want the neighborhood to think they are alike. He, of course is of a better calibre, his new neighbor is "ghetto" not an shouldn't be there! Who's got a problem now?

What this film shows you is the great pains it takes for this family to fit in, and how they lose themselves in the process. It makes you question where does racism begin and end...and with whom. It shows how no matter what colour you are and how much money you have, you can still shut yourself off from the real world and helping those around you. It also shows how these African American children, when "blending in" neighborhoods such as these fall into the trap of changing themselves to suit the culture (complete with blonde hair and blue eyes, mind you!) around them. They laugh along with the jokes, not knowing they ARE the joke and not knowing..why.

But overall, this film is about 'people'. No matter what race you are, this film gets into how terrible you can be towards your neighbor and toward each other...all for the sake of fitting in..all because you feel you have more money than others, so that automatically makes you better -- and you forget the struggles you had and those coming up behind you.

Again, NOT for everyone. But take a look and judge for yourself.

Not a good movie

[splait1 · 1/10 · 26 November 2004]

I was true to my regard for Mr. Glover and Ms. Goldberg. I watched the entire film with my family and some friends. I have no idea what the movie was about. After much discussion, we all agreed that this was not one of their better efforts.

It doesn't hang together very well. It is too choppy, and there is little comedy. I am disappointed. It could have been much better.

I waited months to see this film based on the liner notes.

Don't waste your money unless you are a completist and just want to see all of Mr. Glover's and Ms. Goldberg's films.

It was a poor way to spend an evening.

Good Fences; Great Moments

[g0b0 · 10/10 · 18 February 2005]

This Showtime movie really deserves a far better viewer rating than a 4.5; I gave it a 10 based on the story and the acting of the two stars. After reading the viewer comments, I was surprised at how many folks expected this movie to be a comedy. Yeah, I see that IMDb lists it as Comedy/Drama under Genre. That sure is misleading, isn't it? Fortunately, I saw the movie before logging onto this website so I did not have that expectation. In fact, based on the synopsis of what I heard, I fully expected it to simply be a Drama. I'm wondering if disappoint at this not being a funny movie caused so many low votes.

Another factor that might have caused low votes is that this movie is very much 'character-driven'. 'Driving Miss Daisy' is an example of another character-driven movie that comes to mind. Someone's previous comment complained about a boring trial. Tom's (Danny Glover) work scenes seemed to distract from the real plot of the movie. That is, how he was engineering the upward social climb of his family - or his personal troops, if you will. However, they served to establish credibility and justification as his right to move to Greenwich and move 'up' in the world.

Tom's obsession became a compulsion. He proved that he would stop at nothing to blend into the white neighborhood. His chagrin when another black person moved next door was not due to skin color. It was because of everything the 'interloper' represented; everything that Tom had left behind. In essence, Tom had become an Oreo cookie: Black on the outside but White on the inside.

The last 20 minutes of this movie are among the most powerfully written, directed and acted (by Whoopi Goldberg) I have ever had the pleasure to witness. I realized that the climax of the film was not the obvious event that happened next door (don't want to give it away). The climax is verbal and Whoopi delivers it. I am still not clear if it is the conversation when she informs Tom which college Tom -Two is going to or when she releases it, all in the middle of the night and Tom wakes up. Nevertheless, the denouement is great. You know that life on that street will never be the same.

My favorite kind of character-driven flick: people go through problems, some pain, do their dance, they grow, they change, and life goes on. As an audience member, I may learn something or be inspired.

Good Fences, bad movie

[medea_argos · 1/10 · 22 March 2004]

This movie made me feel as if I had missed some important scenes from the very beginning. There were continuity errors and plots that stopped as abruptly as they started. I was very disappointed because I love Whoopi Goldberg & Danny Glover, in addition to that have always trusted & respected Danny Glovers taste in his choice of roles, "Grand Canyon" for example. I just could not finish this movie, after what seemed an eternity, but was probably just a little over an hour; we had to turn it off. There was no comedy, there was nothing about the characters to make you empathize or sympathize with them, there was no evoking of emotion at all regarding this movie and the clips of their past were poorly edited, confusing, and unnecessary. What could have been a great idea for a movie, even as a drama & not a comedy (although I think a comedy in this situation would have been better, because I love to watch white people freak out & start acting like complete idiots, it makes me laugh) became a waste of my $1 credit at the video store.

Good fences make bad cinema

[gimhoff · 2 February 2003]

Rarely have so many talented people worked together to make movie that is such a mess. Everyone associated with Good Fences -- not just Glover and Goldberg, but also director Dickerson and screenwriter Ellis -- has done much better work in the past, and will do better work again in the future. But this pudding has no theme, as Churchill said. It is neither comedy nor drama, neither funny nor moving. If it has any message, it is that all white people are foolish and that black people are racially inauthentic if they value success, accomplishment, wealth, or even suburban comfort. The movie seems to agree with the character in the Robert Frost poem ("Mending Wall") that "good fences make good neighbors"; its tone argues that integration was a failure, and that blacks should stick to neckbones and avoid brie. But the narrator of Frost's poem is wiser, and says, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down."

HORRIBLE! Avoid like the plague!

[adam531982 · 1/10 · 17 February 2004]

OK, the box looks promising. Whoopi Goldberg standing next to Danny Glover parodying the famous farmer and his wife painting. Then you pop this baby in the DVD player and all hope is lost in less then five minutes. Supposed to be a comedy. And I must admit I did laugh once about ten minutes before the ending. This movie has the following elements: A battered and abused next door neighbor, a boring legal trial, racisim, talk of lynchings, and death and arson. Hilarious, huh? No, please, if you never listen to anyone's reviews, please do here. You cannot even force yourself to watch this crap. CRAP! I said it, CRAP! Whoever put there name on this should indeed sue.

One of the worst movies I have ever seen

[brent-selby · 1/10 · 24 August 2014]

I saw this movie years ago and thought of it when discussing movies I hated the most. It is a total mess from the beginning. The ham-fisted presentation of the "message" is so bad it seems like like a campy joke. I like Spike Lee, who is the executive producer, as a director, but do not compare his films to this - not even the sloppy ones (ie She Hate Me). It reeks of poor writing, poor acting, poor directing... poor everything.

This says it all: when a friend picked it for a movie night, the entire group hated it. We unanimously agreed without hesitation to fast forward through some of it while that person was in the bathroom to get it over as soon as possible.

Of all the movies I've seen (I have a nearly exhaustive list), I don't think there is any one that I have disliked this much.

Very entertaining...

[mike-320 · 9/10 · 14 June 2003]

I enjoyed this movie quite a lot. I have always been a fan of Whoopi Goldberg and this movie only emphasizes it. She portrays a housewife in an African-American family which is moving up the social chain due to the husband's (Danny Glover) success as an attorney. She moves to an all white neighborhood where the people are friendly, yet a little awkward toward her. The various events that arise during the course of the movie make for SOME laughs but mostly appeal to the other emotions. This movie is not so much a comedy as a drama. I give it a strong 8/10. I highly recommend you catch it on TV or rent it soon.

Disappointing

[fmwongmd · 4/10 · 11 February 2020]

Given the two big stars,this was a monumental disappointment. Predictable, stale, and full of cliches Boring!

Dark Comedy/ Mostly Drama/subtle humor

[scentschyc · 9/10 · 21 January 2019]

There is a lot of undertone and subtle humor that not everyone will pick up in this movie. I found it highly intriguing and I could not help to compare my current situation to theirs, as I am moving to an even less diverse all white neighborhood tomorrow. It helped to be reminded that we shouldn't lose our own identities within the environments we live in. It think ABCs "Blackish" tackles this issue much more humorously. The issue with the patriarch in this movie is that he has internalized racism, which is something that is not talked about enough and is becoming widespread.

Good message

[tbutterfly-00347 · 3/10 · 4 February 2022]

A little slow. Tried hard to be edgy or like an independent film. I think it would've been a great play instead of a movie. Just a puzzled as to why they both just fall apart at the end. Was the new neighbor really that triggering??? Lol Only a black person could really understand what the creators were trying to do.

Absolutely NOT a Comedy

[calspace · 30 July 2003]

I like Danny Glover. I think Whoopi Goldberg is brilliant. I thought I'd love this movie, especially since the wrapper specifically says that "the laughs don't stop in this hilarious comedy." Wrong. This was painful.

We've seen aliens meet the neighbors in several forms and trailer trash meets the neighbors. When George Jefferson met Archie Bunker, it was hilarious. Surely the same story could be told in a wealthier community and be funny. This was just sad. Instead of being amused, you feel pain for Whoopi's family and pity for her unenlightened neighbors.

I didn't feel that Tom's (Danny Glover) actions at the end followed either from his history (revealed, I think, too late) or from his prejudice. The lighting on Tom's face, by the way, is about as subtle as the foreshadowing in the 19th century gothic. If you can see it, it doesn't work.

I've seen the racial conflicts of the 1950's-1970's done as drama (Mississippi Burning, In the Heat of the Night, A Patch of Blue) and I've seen it done as comedy (previously mentioned All in the Family, certain episodes of MASH, and any other quality show from the period). The fact that this wasn't funny has less to do with the topic than with the writing.

Watchable, but nothing outstanding...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 4 August 2022]

I have actually never seen or even heard about this 2003 movie titled "Good Fences" from writer Trey Ellis and director Ernest R. Dickerson before now in 2022, as I had the opportunity to watch it. And seeing that the movie had Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg in the leading roles, of course I opted to watch the movie.

Well, "Good Fences" was sort of a mixed bag of nuts. The movie started out rather well and was pretty good up until about midway through. At that point the movie just sort of settled into a slump and started to lose its momentum, becoming somewhat of a slow paced drag to sit through the last half.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and both Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg carried the movie quite well with their performances.

Right, well I can now tick this movie off of the list, however I can in all honesty say that this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

All in all, then "Good Fences" was sort of a less than mediocre movie experience. My rating of "Good Fences" lands on a four out of ten stars.

i think that this was a very good movie

[ats02171 · 10/10 · 6 December 2005]

i really in enjoyed watching this movie. like most of the people that watched it. i wasn't sure that i was getting. Whoopi Goldberg is a very funny comedian and she has done a lot of funny movies; i.e. sister act.

however this was not really comedy. it is a drama with comedic moments. so if your looking for a laugh riot then keep looking.

this movie is about a black family moving up from a nice neighborhood in the city to an upper middle class neighborhood. i would say more but it think it would spoil the movie. this movie does not just deal with race relations between whites and blacks, but also about relations with in the black community. i do think that it is worth a chance. if your not really interested in see another movie about race relations then this movie isn't for you

Those who get it get!

[enakia · 10/10 · 20 September 2022]

Here in 2022. Loved the 70's setting. Listen, if you aren't BLACK, just shush. You can't speak on or even hardly relate. And that's on period.

I thought I would be angry that Whoopi's character rode the fence with those uppity white women...but She didn't really. She always remained true to who she was. Danny Glover's character wasn't a real black man. And that's that on that! The daughter...this fool felt that she had to have blue eyes and blonde hair in order to be accepted as beautiful...I have to remember that this setting was in the 70's. Because black women are the epitome of BEAUTY. We ARE the STANDARD. We don't fit in WE STAND OUT.

Boring !

[elshikh4 · 7 December 2009]

It's a very interesting story. I liked so much the character of the black husband who made it to the top of society in the late 1970s, however hates watching "Roots" or even the idea of making it as a TV series. He tasted the bitter taste of racism himself, but he wants to wind up this page forever. And when he hates his neighbor as she, from his viewpoint, offends the image that he strived to find for the black people, plus how she didn't fatigue herself making the money she got; winning it in a lottery--he'll go and burn her house. The man turned into a racist himself, yet out of fear. The fear that his "class" might be harmed because of riffraff such as this vulgar neighbor; dealing with her the same way that any fanatic racist would have dealt with him years ago. The sad thing is that this very interesting story was made so uninterestingly!

The script was clumsy. I didn't feel the subject well. What's the main theme? is a question that will hunt you all the time, specifically with the idea of the "good fences" that this family was sunken in, and with having only one event that I can remember (burning the house). To tell you the truth, I felt that the movie itself doesn't know what to say, or how to say it, for most of the time. The directing was so heavy-handed. The pace is nearly dead. Some shots were really not necessary; I mean seeing the vicissitude, the days and the nights around the villa was so provocative with empty repetition as well!

The movie seemed eventually like a TV movie that was crushed by the worst new wave cinema. In another word; pointless, pedant and too dull to stand. So with the presence of cinematic stars such as (Danny Glover) and (Whoopi Goldberg), it'd be more depressing. And I knew lately that this was promoted as a comic movie, with a catchline that says: "The Laughs Don't Stop in This Hilarious Comedy"??? So with that, it'd be surely more and more depressing! But for me, the most depressing thing was the meaning of this story which lost itself through long, very long, 119 minutes!

I hated that Variety described the movie as "a stupefyingly clumsy mix of cartoonish comedy, simplistic satire and borderline hysterical melodrama". Because you can say all of that in fewer words: This is a bad movie!

If you Look Deeper

[lynettebeckles · 8/10 · 5 June 2022]

Some people gave this film a poor rating BUT it is a really good film if you look deeper. It tells the black experience of attempting to assimilate and the consequences that took place in response to those sacrifices. Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover as well as the rest of the cast play the rolls masterfully. Pay attention and you juat might learn something about the struggle.

Great acting in this drama

[HotToastyRag · 8/10 · 17 October 2021]

Marketed as a comedy, Good Fences is anything but. If you're expecting a barrel of laughs, rent something else for your weekend matinee. The story does seem light, centering on an affluent black family in the 1970s moving to the suburbs in Connecticut; but it's actually a study in class and character.

Danny Glover's character has worked his way up to becoming a prominent lawyer on track to being a judge. His wife, Whoopi Goldberg, has enjoyed her life as a wife and mother, and she supports him when he decides to move to a wealthier neighborhood. At first, their white neighbors are shocked at the "new element moved in next store"; one woman mistakes Whoopi for the family maid. They're expecting loud, funky music, crass behavior, a strange way of talking, and outlandish fashions. But - and here is the crux of the story - once the neighbors realize their new neighbors dress, talk, and act just like them, the problem completely disappears. Whoopi is included in their parties, Danny is a respected member of their community, and their two teenaged children are completely accepted.

In the second half of the movie, another black family moves onto the same street. Once again the neighbors are apprehensive. This time, the matriarch (played by Mo'nique) does look, talk, and act differently than them. Here, the film takes a racial stance, but I disagree with the message. The film argues that Whoopi has only been accepted because she's "turned white". When a friend from her old neighborhood visits her in her new home, she's shocked at the change. Whoopi "acts white", in her opinion. Every furniture in the house is white, the food she serves is far more expensive and unusual than she used to eat, and a black servant works in the kitchen. However - this movie proves much more of a class distinction than a racial one. If Whoopi "turned white" and her neighbors never accepted her, it would prove they were blinded by the color of her skin. But they completely accepted her. The fact that they shunned Mo'nique when she moved in had nothing to do with her race. She was not married to a high-end lawyer. She had won the lottery and decided to buy a million-dollar mansion. She didn't know how to conduct herself in high-class situations. If she were a white lottery winner, the neighbors would have gossiped about her and called her white-trash.

Parts of the script try to lighten the mood by making fun of the suburbs, but the majority of the film is pretty dramatic. Whoopi's reaction to her new life and new friends is apparent to the audience, but not to her husband: she's not coping. She has a constant inner monologue that shows her insecurity, and she starts relying on alcohol and pain pills to distract her from her "shallow" new life. There are also a few flashbacks thrown into the story that really show why Whoopi and Danny feel the way they do. Whoopi's past shows that she always felt like an unloved misfit; Danny's shows his deep fear of being attacked by white men. When they first got together, their similar feelings brought them close. But decades later, the slight differences threaten to drive them apart.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was very funny to see the two leads cast as husband and wife again, twenty years after The Color Purple. And I always appreciate when Hollywood allows Whoopi Goldberg to show some actual acting, rather than relegating her to the comic relief. Danny Glover has had a much more drama-heavy career, so if you're expecting a heavy performance from him as well, you won't be disappointed.

Blah Blah Blah

[drednm · 2 February 2003]

Nothing new is this tired serio-comedy that wastes the talents of Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg. Considering that this was produced by the stars and Spike Lee, it's pretty tame and tired stuff. And how come the Whoop never changes her hair or glasses over the many years this film covers? Blah!

"Great Fences"!

[MovieHoliks · 8/10 · 27 March 2015]

I'm seeing a lot of hate for this movie, which I can't understand- I really enjoyed this. I noticed this on HULU the other day, and saw that it was released as a Showtime movie in 2003-?? WTF?? 12 years, and I've never heard of this-??

"The Color Purple" co-stars, Whoopi Goldberg & Danny Glover, re-unite, again playing husband & wife, in this Spike Lee-produced, Ernest Dickerson-directed satirical film about a well-to-do African-American family in the 1970s. It's funny, insightful, well-acted- and I must say a lot of times, the humor is a bit dark/menacing- which I think works for the film. If you go into this expecting a knee-slapping comedy, this is not for you, just to be warned. I would say this is a good companion piece to another satirical look at race relations (also a made for cable film)- 2000's HBO Film "Dancing In September".

*SPOILER* And I've seen a lot of discussion about what Glover's character does at the end- without giving it away- It just seems to me that his character isn't so much to blame as society is as a whole- what society put his character through, which would lead him to commit such an act-??