Speech & Debate
Frustrated by the hypocrisy they see in their parents, teachers, and the entire school board, an unlikely trio set out to find a common truth and make their voices heard as they revive a defunct school club and take on the world.
23 September 1987, New York City, New York, USA
16 September 1988, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
16 January 1980, New York City, New York, USA
10 October 1969, Bellflower, California, USA
6 February 1985, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
5 February 1987, San Francisco, California, USA
23 April 1977, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
7 June 1975
4 February 1999, Austell, Georgia, USA
4 October 1996, Texas, USA
7 August 1996, Canada
14 September 1971, Rye, New York, USA
April 06, 2017
All in all, this is a plucky but rather disorganised attempt to explore pressing issues. For a teen-focused film, it's refreshingly lacking in cynicism, but its fate will depend on whether or not its audience shares this quality.
April 07, 2017
Once a darkly comic romp centered around outing a pedophile teacher, this adaptation has been shorn of its sharpest edges, leaving a largely unfocused, conventional teen dramedy in its place.
April 28, 2017
...Speech & Debate will probably not stand out among the best, although it is, at times, a fun ride anyway.
April 06, 2017
Ultimately Speech & Debate is stuck in a Catch-22: It's so hard to argue with the premise that it's tough to get excited about it.
April 18, 2017
Coming-of-age tale confronts teen issues; sex and drinking.
April 11, 2017
The film's stage origins, and a cameo appearance by Lin-Manuel Miranda, may be of interest to theater buffs, but everyone else will be left wondering what all the fuss was about.
April 06, 2017
Over all, the movie ... has a focus problem that leaves its humorous moments obscured and its intentions hazy.
April 14, 2017
A heartfelt love letter from theater kids to theater kids.
April 05, 2017
Harris structures Speech & Debate like a musical comedy that's building up to a cathartic final number, but scene after scene just falls flat.
April 06, 2017
While it has the potential to be snarky, dim, and thin, "Speech & Debate" is downright wonderful at times, eschewing the plastic teen routine to create dimensional characters facing interesting personal and educational challenges.
April 06, 2017
Although the story, which feels a tad past its expiration date, never digs too deeply into its central issues (hypocrisy, loneliness, censorship, finding one's voice), Dan Harris' peppy direction and nimble turns by the film's young leads prevail.
