Theodore Melfi directs Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner in this glossy true tale of black female mathematicians who helped NASA win the space race.

A satisfying crowd pleaser that pleasantly kills an afternoon. Imagine A League of Their Own with a more historically momentous outcome and an inoffensively button pushing racial angle. Despite its admirable cast and some captivating period recreation, the 1960s black experience aspect seems muddled to a honky cynic like me. The African American characters feel like amalgamations of modern concerns (they get their sassy moments, their triumphant moments, their oppressed moments fed to us as we the “right on” audience members require)  rather than flesh and bone citizens of their time. With the exception of the always exceptional Octavia Spencer, their opposing reactions to these wobbly arcs often feel schizophrenic from scene to scene. Taraji P. Henson can go from enraged to enfeebled to dominant to meek depending on what the easiest emotional reaction needed to be elicited happens to be. The character who efficiently flirts with a handsome church goer, furtively deals with a highway patrolman and screams at the head of NASA about a coffeepot feel like three very different people. I don’t put this shakiness down to either complexity (it’s not that kinda movie, it admirably wears its pure heart on its sleeve) or bad acting. There is no strong, sustainable throughline in the writing leaving two of these important yet regular people in history feeling like mere cyphers on the screen. It jars, leaving way too much room for old hand Costner and new star in the making Glen Powell to pretty much steal the film with broader but more consistently nailed down roles. And as fine a feelgood experience as Hidden Figures is, I’m pretty sure the end goal was not to have you leaving thinking just quite how good the white male co-stars were. Clunky manipulation aside, this is classy, fun and charmingly crafted.

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