Christopher Lloyd The Film Yap Aug 17, 2026 4/5

A classic "good hang" movie about some Chicago high school goofs that actually had something to say and influenced a generation of Black cinema and TV.

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Bryan Johnson Globe and Mail Oct 8, 2025

Preach and Cochise have their adventures, a lot of them patently comic or tragic -- but seldom, to me, either very funny or very moving.

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Margo Jefferson Newsweek Aug 15, 2025

It is a smart, very affecting movie.

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James Walcott Village Voice Aug 15, 2025

The surprise of Cooley High is that it is a schlock concept which transcends its limitation by becoming a celebration of black brotherhood.

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Nigel Andrews Financial Times Aug 15, 2025

The film has a fierce, funny and wholly delightful energy of its own.

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Jay Cocks TIME Magazine Aug 15, 2025

Cooley High has all the grace of an Army training film.

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David Robinson The Times (UK) Aug 15, 2025

Schultz has a way of astonishing with small marvellous moments.

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Farnum Gray Atlanta Journal-Constitution Aug 15, 2025

It has a fine — though not flawless — script by Eric Monte and a deft direction by Michael Schultz... And the cast is excellent.

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Patrick Taggart Austin American-Statesman Aug 15, 2025

It's all good fun and good acting up until the last ten minutes.

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R.H. Gardner Baltimore Sun Aug 15, 2025

It is, in short, friendly, funny, tender and touching; and I strongly recommend it.

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George McKinnon Boston Globe Aug 15, 2025

"Cooley High" is not a "social document," except, perhaps, subliminally. Mainly, it is an entertainment, and a bright, fresh, satisfying one.

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Emerson Batdorff Cleveland Plain Dealer Aug 15, 2025

“Cooley High” stacks up as a fairly entertaining movie.

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Patrick Gibbs Daily Telegraph (UK) Aug 15, 2025

Where the film is original, and highly rewarding, is in the realism and liveliness it finds in a group of youths.

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Susan Stark Detroit Free Press Aug 15, 2025

Thanks largely to the spirited performances of the two leads, Glynn Turman and Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, "Cooley High" asserts itself as a valuable piece of work.

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Derek Malcolm Guardian Aug 15, 2025

Michael Schultz's film is bright-eyed rather than bitter, sentimental rather than cynical. But there's an edge to it all the same.

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Valerie Jenkins London Evening Standard Aug 15, 2025

Director Michel Schulz manages to give his gang a punchy exuberance.

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Gayle Pollard Miami Herald Aug 15, 2025

A musical trip full of soulful oldies, "Cooley High" is a mildly enjoyable experience in black nostalgia.

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Ann Guarino New York Daily News Aug 15, 2025 3/4

As directed by Michael Schultz, the Chicago setting and juvenile characters are real enough. Good performances are drawn from a cast of newcomers.

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Martin Levine Newsday Aug 15, 2025

"Cooley High" has an impressive air of integrity and authenticity.

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Russell Davies Observer (UK) Aug 15, 2025

A weird mixture of crazy laughs and intensely grubby realism.

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