4/4  Join Me!
What makes this movie so amazing is that it actually happened. Though this movie is a tragedy, it dealt with some of the most controversial issues in a rather light-hearted manner and I appreciated that. Josh Brolin was electrifying in t... (read full)

3.5/4  Great acting by Penn, Brolin, and Franco
This was a pretty good movie. It was touching at times and I liked the setup of Harvey dictated a memoir in case of his death.

Didn't much care for the love interest story (at least Rick, Scott was pretty good) but then again it was bas... (read full)

2/4  milk??,
I thought this movie was quite boring i mean okay its okay and i have seen worse but it didn't really attract me but i think sean penn and josh brolin put a great performance i think it is difficult to play a gay person and sean penn ... (read full)

2/4  Glossy portrait of political figure.
Its very easy to hear a lot about how "important" this film is but no one really says anything on what makes it good. They might say the acting is so good but I felt most actually played stereotypes including Penn. If you look at the real ... (read full)

3.5/4  Brilliant
After seeing Milk, a much-needed biopic of perhaps the most important politician of the last half of the 20th century, I have a renewed respect for Sean Penn. He is among the contemporary powerhouse testosterone-heads like De Niro, Pacino,... (read full)

3/4  A Very Poignent Film in 2008
Until this movie was released, I had never even heard of Harvey Milk, but I'm glad I have now. This movie couldn't have come out at a better time with Prop 8 passing in San Francisco and other states trying to ban gay marraige. Sean Penn... (read full)

4/4  Milk Quick Review
Sean Penn and Josh Brolin are great, Gus Van Sants direction is great and the rest of the cast is great. It's Well Done in every department

5/5 This is a great movie - especially for teaching students
  by M. C. Love
I teach a health policy class and one of the things we learn about is political advocacy. Harvey Milk was a true grassroots political advocate! This movie shows this role far better than I could ever lecture on the topic. Also - students (college) like a variety of teaching methods so using this movie paired with a discussion about the role of a political advocate - the challenges, the triumphs, the techniques, etc is fabulous! The students like it - and I like it. I do put in a disclaimer re: the religious right bashing, gay bashing, and display of gay intimacy (which by the way is very tastefully done) so students are prepared and may choose to opt out or close their eye/ears during these scenes (so far no one has). These are adult students by the way. I lost my orginal copy - so am ordering this agian. {sigh} I know I'll find it as soon as the order goes through - doesn't that often happen?

But it - watch it with friends - have a lively discussion about political advocacy, the environmental factors that drove Mr. Milk to become so invovled, and the enviornmental factors that lead to is demise.

Unlike a previous poster - I liked the back and forth with the news footage and the movie - it gives credibility to the re-telling of Mr. Milk's legacy.

3/5 Good But Not Great
  by ChaCha (New York, NY)
The fact that Sean Penn is brilliant and one of the greatest living actors is not in dispute. The fact that the story of Harvey Milk is historically significant and brought about life altering legislation and hope for so many citizens who were treated as criminals and harrassed by the very people who should have been protecting them is not in question. That the Harvey Milk story was an inspiration not only to gays from the US but also gays from the world at large is acknowledged. These are all undeniable truths.

However, as a film, this felt lacking. It succeeded in telling the story but for me it failed with not fleshing out the characters particularly Harvey Milk. I just didn't feel connected to any of the characters and on a personal note, what a waste of the talents of the wonderful Allison Pill. I think I would have enjoyed more from an hour long History Channel program.

As other reviewers have said before me, many people are confusing this important man and time in American history and equating this with a great film. It's not.

4/5 excellent, but not a "classic"
  by William Sommerwerck (Renton, WA USA)
This is an extremely good film (on a four-star scale, I'd give it 3.5), but not the masterpiece it's been called.

As with virtually every biopic ever made, the writer is obliged to create artificial-sounding dialog that sums up what's been going on prior to the current scene, or clumsily reveals a character's thoughts. "Milk" is better than most, but it still has its share.

One of the script's good points is its failure to demonize Dan White, who's portrayed as a thoroughly confused and unbalanced human being. (It's not surprising he eventually committed suicide.) Though obviously a queer-hater, one gets the feeling that White's murder of Milk and Moscone was primarily more to his being politically thwarted and "humiliated". Even had the conflict not been over gay rights, he probably would killed whomever he thought had harmed him. (Moscone wasn't gay.) He did not understand the nature of politics.

Harvey Milk seems to have understood, though. He's willing to say what White wants to hear, then reverse himself.

My only gripe is the obvious fiction of presenting what was going through Harvey Milk's mind when he was killed. It's more silly than anything (he apparently associates his murder with Tosca's death), and it hurts the tone of a film that gives at least the illusion of accuracy. It also comes dangerously close to portraying Milk as a martyr.

Fine performances all around, especially Penn's and Brolin's. I don't know why people dump on Sean Penn. In this film, he quite disappears into the role. What more do you want from an actor?

For those straight viewers uncomfortable not only with men kissing each other, but with male effeminacy... There are all kinds of homosexual men, ranging from transvesites and swishes to men of ordinary (sometimes hyper) masculinity who are not easily recognized. Thirty years ago, the latter tended to remain invisible and not take part in politics. Which is why you don't see many of them in this film.

Highly recommended -- especially to those people who ought to see it, but will refuse to.

Beautiful Blu-ray transfer.

4/5 EXCELLENT PERFORMANCES ENHANCE THIS BIO!
  by ! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b (TRI STATE AREA)
I enjoyed 'Milk' because the performances by Penn and company, but the film as a whole just didn't reach greatness for me. The story is very sad and even though I was around in those times I was too young and preoccupied with my youth to understand what it was like then.

The film gets a big boost from Penn, Franco and Brolin, but some characters portrayed seem cartoonish. The film starts out strong, sags in the middle and gives us the sad ending. It's a film worth watching, but I doubt I'll give it a second look. It is certainly a story worth telling.

3/5 Straight out of Bio-pic 101
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

Milk begins with the death of its main character (de rigueur for every film in the genre since Gandhi), goes back to when he was a nobody, charts his rise to power and the unfortunate effect it had on his personal relationships (though this time the "long-suffering wife" character is a man!) and then sends him to heaven with the wings of martyrdom on his shoulders; this reluctance to rise above the formula of the execrable biopic genre (it even follows the tradition of naming the film as simply the character's surname) dooms the film to mediocrity despite good performances by Penn and a terrific Brolin.

2.5/4