This is Conventional Oscar Storytelling 101, a nicely packaged inspirational story that doesn’t take many risks because it has no intention of doing so. There’s your usual irritatingly on-the-nose dialogue, your usual character stereotypes, your usual hokey scenes complete with a gradually swelling score as the walls of prejudice crumble. It’s all very nice and well made, but it has the makings of an extremely bland movie. Thankfully, Hidden Figures manages to still take that formula and turn it into something worth watching.
For one, the cast is endearing, and all three leading women bring a ton of energy to their characters. You want to see them succeed, and the true story behind it all is so strong that the actors have no trouble selling the material. Furthermore, though hampered at times by writing cliches and by attempts to bring the film outside of work confines, the Melfi-Schroeder script is able to tell three intersecting (but individual) storylines. They may not get the same amount of screen time, but they’re compelling stories that illustrate the widespread effects of prejudice and discrimination in the working environment. Telling stories about ingrained day-to-day racism is just as necessary as telling stories about the “big events” surrounding race relations in our past, and this film does it well. More than that, though, it’s an ode to perseverance in the face of opposition.
GRADE: B
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
Polar Bears Watch TV 
I honestly just have no desire to view this, though I’m sure I’d lean towards a B/B-. Looks fine, just not excited to watch. Probably will though once Oscar noms come around.