Metacritic reviews

The other actress to stand out is, unsurprisingly, Queen Latifa, whose intense screen presence makes her a force to be reckoned with even when she's simply standing in the background, not saying anything.

Above all, it contains characters I care for, played by actors I admire.

An affecting ensemble piece that's destined to generate a fair share of awards-season buzz.

It's pleasant and often touching, and the well-chosen cast sells what little drama they get, but there's no depth and little affect, and every would-be conflict peters out noncommittally.

Like a mouthful of honey, The Secret Life of Bees is cloyingly sweet and gooey, and you're not quite sure you can swallow it undiluted.

Only near the end does this likable but saccharine movie fleetingly complicate the "Gone With the Wind"–fed delusion that the love of poor, black nannies for their white charges was undiluted by bitterness.

The Secret Life of Bees is a lesson -- or, rather, a whole series of them -- we no longer need to learn. Of course, it's also a divine-sisterhood-defeats-all chick flick, and on that score there's no denying that its clichés are rousingly up to date.

Generally works like a drone but sometimes provides glimpses of the queens at the center

Fortunately, the cast cuts through a cloying script and boosts unsure direction with sharply focused performances.

Sweat and good intentions will take you only so far. And they take Bees right up to the threshold of entertaining--but not one step further.