The Hate U Give reviews: What are critics saying about The Hate U Give?

Amandla Stenberg stars in the movie adaptation of Angie Thomas’ young adult novel The Hate U Give.

The story follows Starr Carter as she balances life in two worlds – her mostly poor, black neighbourhood and her mostly white, wealthy private school.

When her friend is shot by a white police officer these two worlds collide.

Starr is forced into a precarious situation, having to decide if, and how to, use her voice for change.

Ella Kemp of Culture Whisper gave it four out of five stars.

She wrote: “Serious when it needs to be and hopeful whenever it can, there’s gold dust in the maturity of The Hate U Give.”

Ann-Derrick Gaillot at Thrillist wrote: “While the film simplifies the story somewhat, it never loses its heart, the brilliant emerging of Starr into her own voice and pride in the community that lifts her up.”

For TIME Magazine, Stephanie Zachareck said: “It’s so gripping to watch – as well as being, in places, just delightfully funny-that you never feel you’re being preached to.

“It picks you up in one place and sets you down in another.”

Giving it three out of four stars, Monica Castillo at RogerEbert.com wrote: “The movie feels instructional without getting too preachy, taking time to explain various inequalities and barriers facing black Americans, typically in exchanges between father and daughter.”

Castillo gave it three out of four stars, while New York Times writer Aisha Harris was slightly more critical of the script.

Harris wrote: “Ms Stenberg, Mr Hornsby and others in the ensemble (including Regina Hall as Starr’s mother, Lisa) are more than capable of exploring their characters’ depths, but a wonky script gets them only so far.”

Emily Yoshida of Vulture wrote: “If this is what the next wave of YA adaptation will feel like, we are in a good place.”

Indeed, The Hate U Give is a far cry from Twilight.

Stephanie Greenblatt wrote for Entertainment Weekly: “The Hate U Give feels like the welcome crest of a new wave: not bland chronicles of sparkle-skinned vampires or dance-squad rivalries but real, often painfully relevant tales about race and justice and millennial identity.”

For IndieWire, Kate Erbland wrote: “It’s a film that contains multitudes, and only asks for a world willing to do the same.”

The AV Club’s Allison Shoemaker said: “The Hate U Give does right by its source material, star, and subject. Like any good teen movie, it includes triumph-and in many ways, it is one itself.”

The Hate U Give is in cinemas now.