movie reviews hidden figures

Hidden Figures

I’ve been a computer programmer for 29-1/2 years, so I suppose I would be a tad biased toward a film that uses FORTRAN as a means of exacting socially relevant revenge. In “Hidden Figures,” the FORTRAN punch cards coded by Dorothy Vaughan ( Octavia Spencer ) prove that she is not only qualified to be the first employee supervisor of color in the space program, but that her “girls” (as she calls them) have the skills to code the IBM mainframe under her tutelage. Vaughan’s victory comes courtesy of the programming manual she had to lift from the segregated library that vengefully refused to loan it to her because it wasn’t in the “colored section.” When her shocked daughter protests her unconventional borrowing methods, Vaughan tells her, “I pay my taxes for this library just like everybody else!”

Vaughan is one of the three real-life African-American women who helped decipher and define the mathematics used during the space race in the 1960s. “Hidden Figures” tells their stories with some of the year’s best writing, directing and acting. Co-writer/director Theodore Melfi (adapting Margot Lee Shetterly’s book with co-writer Allison Schroeder) has a light touch not often found in dramas like this, which makes the material all the more effective. He knows when to let a visual cue or cut tell the story, building on moments of repetition before paying off with scenes of great power. For example, to depict the absurdity of segregated bathrooms, Melfi repeats shots of a nervously tapping foot, followed by mile-long runs to the only available bathroom. This running joke culminates in a brilliantly acted, angry speech by Taraji P. Henson that is her finest cinematic moment to date.

Henson plays Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who, in the film’s opening flashback, is shown to have a preternatural affinity for math in her youth. Her success at obtaining the education she needs is hindered by Jim Crow, but she still manages to earn degrees in math and a job at NASA’s “Colored Computer” division. In an attempt to beat Russia to the moon, NASA has been looking for the nation’s best mathematicians. The importance of the space race forces them to accept qualified candidates of any stripe, including those society would normally discourage.

We meet the adult version of Johnson as she’s sitting in Vaughan’s stalled car with her NASA colleague Mary Jackson ( Janelle Monae ). The dialogue between the three women establishes their easy rapport with one another, and introduces their personalities. Vaughan is no-nonsense, Jackson is a wise ass with impeccable comic timing and Johnson is the clever optimist. They are similarly educated, though each has their own skill set the film will explore.

Vaughan’s mechanical skills are highlighted first: Spencer’s legs jut out from underneath her broken down car as she applies the trade taught to her by her father. Her supervisory expertise is also on display when a police officer shows up to investigate. Though the cop situation is resolved in an amusing, joyous fashion, “Hidden Figures” never undercuts the fears and oppressions of this era. They’re omnipresent even when we don’t see them, and the film develops a particular rhythm between problems and solutions that is cathartic without feeling forced.

At the request of Vaughan’s supervisor ( Kirsten Dunst ), Johnson is sent to a room full of White male mathematicians to assist in some literal rocket science. The calculations have stumped everyone, including Paul Stafford ( Jim Parsons ), the hotshot whose math Johnson is hired to check. Parsons is a bit of a weak link here—his petulance, while believable, is overplayed to the point of cartoonish villainy—but the overall attitude in the room made me shudder with bad memories of my own early career tribulations. I’ve been the only person of color in a less than inviting work environment, and many of Henson’s delicate acting choices vis-à-vis her body language held the eerie feeling of sense memory for me. Though she remains confident in her work and presents that confidence whenever questioned, Henson manifests on her person every hit at her dignity. You can see her trying to hold herself in check instead of going full-Cookie Lyon on her colleagues.

In addition to the unwelcome men in the room, Johnson also has to deal with the tough, though fair complaints of her grizzled supervisor, Al Harrison ( Kevin Costner ). Costner is a perfect fit here; he should consider running out the rest of his career in supporting mentor roles. He and Henson play off each other with an equal sense of bemusement, and when the film gives him something noble to do, it hides the cliché under the nostalgic sight of “ Bull Durham ”’s Crash Davis holding a baseball bat.

While Johnson tries to keep John Glenn (charmingly played by Glen Powell ) from exploding atop a rocket and Vaughan fights FORTRAN and Dunst for the right to be a supervisor, Janelle Monae is secretly walking off with the picture. Mary Jackson wants to be the first Black engineer at NASA, yet as with Vaughan’s library book, she’s hindered by Jim Crow practices. Jackson takes her case to court, and the scene where Monae wordlessly reacts to the outcome is one of the year’s best. With this and “ Moonlight ,” Monae has established herself as a fine actress able to handle both comedy and drama. The awards praise for Spencer is certainly justified, but Monae is the film’s true supporting player MVP.

Watching “Hidden Figures” I thought about how I would have felt had I seen this movie 30 years ago, when I made the decision to study math and computer science. I might have felt more secure in that decision, and certainly would have had better ideas on how to handle some of the thorny racial situations into which I found myself. The strange thing for me is that I saw more Black programmers in this movie than I’ve encountered in my entire career. I had few points of reference in this regard, and the I.T. world reflects that. Even today, some of my customers look at me funny when I show up to fix the problem.

Hopefully, “Hidden Figures” will inspire women and people of color (and hell, men too) with its gentle assertion that there’s nothing unusual nor odd about people besides White men being good at math. But my secret fantasy is that this feel-good film will be a huge hit at the box office. Under its great acting, bouncy Pharrell score and message is a film that’s as geeked out about math as a superhero film is about its comic book origins. So much so that it does my mathematician’s heart proud. It deserves to make as much money as any planet in the Marvel Universe does. This is one of the year’s best films.

Odie Henderson

Odie “Odienator” Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

• Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson
• Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford
• Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson
• Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Michael
• Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughn
• Mahershala Ali as Jim Johnson
• Kevin Costner as Al Harrison
• Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson
• Glen Powell as John Glenn
• Olek Krupa as Karl Zielinski
• Allison Schroeder
• Theodore Melfi
• Benjamin Wallfisch
• Hans Zimmer
• Pharrell Williams

Cinematographer

• Mandy Walker

Writer (based on the book by)

• Margot Lee Shetterly
• Peter Teschner

Leave a comment

Now playing.

Devara: Part 1

Will & Harper

Amber Alert

The Universal Theory

I, The Executioner

The Apprentice

Daddy’s Head

Latest articles

A Careful Performer: Maggie Smith (1934-2024)

Home Entertainment Guide: September 2024

New York Film Festival 2024: Preview and Thoughts on “The Brutalist,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

The Registers of Fear: Samara Weaving on “Azrael”

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• About Rotten Tomatoes®
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening This Week
• Top Box Office
• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most Popular Streaming Movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 98% The Wild Robot Link to The Wild Robot
• 100% Girls Will Be Girls Link to Girls Will Be Girls
• 100% Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story Link to Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

New TV Tonight

• 100% Colin from Accounts: Season 2
• 100% Matlock: Season 1
• 100% Brilliant Minds: Season 1
• 75% Murder in a Small Town: Season 1
• 50% Rescue: HI-Surf: Season 1
• 75% Grotesquerie: Season 1
• 93% Nobody Wants This: Season 1
• -- Everybody Still Hates Chris: Season 1
• -- Doctor Odyssey: Season 1
• -- Social Studies: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 83% Agatha All Along: Season 1
• 94% The Penguin: Season 1
• 85% The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2
• 64% The Perfect Couple: Season 1
• 100% From: Season 3
• 46% Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Season 2
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

• 93% Nobody Wants This: Season 1 Link to Nobody Wants This: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All Stephen King TV Series and Miniseries Ranked

All 47 DreamWorks Animation Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

Vote in the 1994 Movies Showdown – Round 2

• Trending on RT
• Hispanic Heritage Month
• TV Premiere Days
• Most Anticipated TV
• Movie Re-Release Calendar

Hidden Figures Reviews

This was a great historical film that shined a light on black excellency during one of the most important times in US history.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 4, 2024

Charming performances by an incredibly black cast make this sometimes redundant historical drama worth watching.

“Hidden Figures” is a polished Hollywood movie through and through, but the power and importance of its story along with the three central performances easily overshadow any hiccups.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 21, 2022

The right crowd-pleaser for the right time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 5, 2022

This glossy historical celebration leans towards the sentimental, but is timely and important nonetheless.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2022

Brilliant performances by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae and a first rate ensemble make this a not to be missed revelation and righting of American herstory...

Full Review | Oct 5, 2021

To me, the film speaks of simple respect, due to every person because he or she is human.

Full Review | Aug 26, 2021

It's a story of greatness demanding acknowledgement.

Full Review | Aug 17, 2021

The film never relinquishes its tight focus on three remarkable individuals who repeatedly demonstrate that they, too, possess the right stuff.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 17, 2021

Hidden Figures puts the familiar period-piece lens on an overlooked part of space history without glossing over the ugly bits while still feeling hopeful for what science and technology can achieve when the best and brightest can participate

Full Review | Jul 28, 2021

A feel good, crowd pleaser of a movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 28, 2021

Any merely or largely "official" version of the political and historical issues bound up with these events, such as the filmmakers adopt, is fraught with contradictions.

Full Review | Feb 22, 2021

The movie features outstanding performances and pays tribute to three pioneering Black women who played a central role at NASA in the early 1960s during the "space race" between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Full Review | Feb 17, 2021

Bring the whole family to see an uplifting film about three women whose contributions to NASA and space travel should not be ignored.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2020

It's a feel good, inspirational and entertaining film with winning performances across the board and an incredibly valuable history lesson.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 10, 2020

One of the main problems of the film is that it builds the drama in a very naive, very artificial, very intentional way. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 27, 2020

All the three leads were fantastic.

Full Review | May 8, 2020

Very nice and entertaining.

A superb cast and a true-life story long overdue in the telling.

Full Review | Apr 30, 2020

Hidden Figures presented three brilliant black women who just wanted to do their jobs.

Full Review | Mar 31, 2020

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘hidden figures’: film review.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae star in 'Hidden Figures' as mathematicians who played significant behind-the-scenes roles in the American space program.

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

As shiny and bright as the Chevy Bel Air that Octavia Spencer’s character drives — and knows how to repair — Hidden Figures is a spunky, upbeat spin on a moment of risk-taking hope for Cold War America. It’s also an eye-opening reminder of the absurdity, cruelty and pervasiveness of racial segregation a mere half-century ago, even in such rarefied precincts of higher intelligence as NASA’s Langley research center. Set during the hectic months leading to astronaut John Glenn’s 1962 orbit of Earth, the film revolves around three key but largely unsung members of the NASA team that made his flight possible. In what can feel like a frustratingly two-dimensional history lesson, albeit one whose resonance is undeniable, it helps that they’re played by a trio of actresses with charm to spare.

The family-friendly real-life story looks set for stratospheric heights during its limited holiday run and after it goes wide Jan. 6, while the recent death of Glenn, the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven crew, should intensify interest in the feature.

Release date: Dec 25, 2016

Director Theodore Melfi navigates the shift from the decidedly small-scale St. Vincent to this major undertaking with assurance and energy, his behind-the-camera collaborators making dynamic contributions. Working from a book by Margot Lee Shetterly , Melfi and co-writer Allison Schroeder ( Mean Girls 2 ) have fashioned a screenplay that’s somewhat less stellar than the physical production, its wholesome sass sometimes lapsing into pure sap. But the fine, spirited work of Taraji P. Henson, Spencer and Janelle Monae as irresistible rooting interests, as well as Kevin Costner’s winningly lived-in turn as the head of Langley’s Space Task Group, deepen a film that’s propelled by sitcommy beats and expository dialogue .

In this rallying cry for STEM girls everywhere, Henson plays the adorably bespectacled Katherine Goble (later Katherine Johnson). A math prodigy — as a prologue set in 1926 West Virginia illustrates — she’s a member of the West Computing Group at Langley, 20 African-American women who are “computers,” in the lingo of the day, segregated from the white computers in the East Group and housed in a dingy basement office (one of the many evocative sets in Wynn Thomas’s production design). From those quarters, Katherine’s friend and colleague Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer) supervises the group without benefit of that official designation or the salary that would go with it, sending the “colored computers” on assignments around the research facility.

Mary Jackson ( Monae ), the mouthiest and most demonstrative of the three friends, is thrilled to be placed on the team working on the Mercury capsule prototype. Her supervisor ( Olek Krupa ) recognizes her talent and urges her to sign up for the engineer training program — no simple feat in the Jim Crow South, but a challenge that she ultimately takes on, despite the misgivings of her husband ( Aldis Hodge).

Henson’s Katherine, the only person on-site with a knack for analytic geometry, joins the Space Task Group, although “joins” is something of an overstatement. She gets a chilly welcome from the group’s executive assistant (Kimberly Quinn) and a quietly belligerent one from lead engineer Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). “They’ve never had a colored in here before,” personnel supervisor Mrs. Mitchell ( Kirsten Dunst ) tells her unapologetically.

The hostile setup has a borderline cartoonish quality to it, but something more nuanced unfolds between Katherine and the group’s director, Al Harrison (Costner, persuasive). His constant balancing act of preoccupation and laser focus is the film’s strongest suggestion of a complicated inner life. There are glimpses of the central trio’s home fronts, notably the widowed Katherine’s romance with a soft-spoken dreamboat of a military man ( Mahershala Ali , with far less to do than in Moonlight ). But all too often the screenplay is busy funneling its sense of history into self-conscious dialogue that sounds like anachronistic commentary rather than people talking. Mary’s husband says, “Freedom is never granted to the oppressed”; Dorothy observes that “any upward movement is movement for us all”; Mary’s Holocaust survivor boss declares, “We are living the impossible.”

More effective, and affecting, are the various moments of professional defiance and triumph for Katherine, Dorothy and Mary. Halfway through, Henson delivers a showstopper of a throw-down over the half-mile sprints she’s required to make several times a day to a “colored” women’s bathroom in another building. Cinematographer Mandy Walker, shooting on celluloid in keeping with the movie’s retro sensibility, pulls back to capture these dashes through the Langley campus (Atlanta’s Morehouse College provides the exteriors), the action set to a propulsively catchy song by Pharrell Williams. Henson is frantic, kinetic, unbowed in her de rigueur heels, embodying the obvious injustice but also a comic dignity — the sequences are a kind of political slapstick.

Costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus has character-defining fun with the period fashions, accentuating the women’s vibrancy with dresses in rich hues and prints, a marked contrast with the white shirts, narrow black ties and gray walls of the Space Task Group where Katherine works on life-or-death calculations under mounting Space Race pressure. Her mathematical know-how impresses hero-in-the-making Glenn (Glen Powell) — and the climactic sequence, in which the boyish astronaut makes clear how much he trusts and respects her, is well orchestrated by Melfi, with a crisp emotional impact in the interactions between Costner and Henson.

The three leads also find a persuasive chemistry, however lacking in nuance the dialogue can be. Henson gives life to Katherine’s humility as well as her assertiveness; Spencer is reliably warm yet steely; and pop star Monae offers further evidence, after her memorable turn in Moonlight , that she’s a compelling screen presence.

Hidden Figures pays heartfelt tribute to remarkable women who broke color and gender barriers out of the spotlight, with no headlines proclaiming their achievements. Yet for all its energy and joy, when the inevitable images of the real-life hidden figures appear during the movie’s closing credits, it’s hard not to wish that you’d been watching a deeply delving documentary about them — or that somebody will make one soon.

Distributor: 20th Century Fox/Fox 2000 Pictures Production companies: Chernin Entertainment, Levantine Films, TSG Entertainment  Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Olivia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner , Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell, Kimberly Quinn, Olek Krupa Director: Theodore Melfi Screenwriters: Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi; based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly Producers: Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams, Theodore Melfi Executive producers: Jamal Daniel, Renee Witt, Ivana Lombardi, Mimi Valdes, Kevin Halloran, Margot Lee Shetterly Director of photography: Mandy Walker Production designer: Wynn Thomas Costume designer: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus Editor: Peter Teschner Composers: Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, Benjamin Wallfisch Casting: Victoria Thomas

Rated PG, 127 minutes

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Dakota johnson “100 percent had preconceived notions” about justin timberlake before starring in ‘social network’ together, jeff bridges wasn’t “fond of” his cgi appearance in ‘tron: legacy’: “i looked more like bill maher”, critic’s appreciation: maggie smith, mistress of scintillating wit and withering disdain, india’s oscar committee reveals why it didn’t select ‘all we imagine as light’: “a european film taking place in india” , batman villains bane, deathstroke getting movie treatment at dc studios (exclusive), ‘happy gilmore 2’: infamous pro golfer john daly reveals he filmed role in netflix sequel.

Advertisement

Supported by

Review: ‘Hidden Figures’ Honors 3 Black Women Who Helped NASA Soar

• Share full article

By A.O. Scott

• Dec. 22, 2016

“Hidden Figures” takes us back to 1961, when racial segregation and workplace sexism were widely accepted facts of life and the word “computer” referred to a person, not a machine. Though a gigantic IBM mainframe does appear in the movie — big enough to fill a room and probably less powerful than the phone in your pocket — the most important computers are three African-American women who work at NASA headquarters in Hampton, Va. Assigned to data entry jobs and denied recognition or promotion, they would go on to play crucial roles in the American space program.

Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book of the same title, the film, directed by Theodore Melfi (who wrote the script with Allison Schroeder), turns the entwined careers of Katherine Goble (later Johnson), Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan into a rousing celebration of merit rewarded and perseverance repaid. Like many movies about the overcoming of racism, it offers belated acknowledgment of bravery and talent and an overdue reckoning with the sins of the past. And like most movies about real-world breakthroughs, “Hidden Figures” is content to stay within established conventions. The story may be new to most viewers, but the manner in which it’s told will be familiar to all but the youngest.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. There is something to be said for a well-told tale with a clear moral and a satisfying emotional payoff. Mr. Melfi, whose previous film was the heart-tugging, borderline-treacly Bill Murray vehicle “St. Vincent,” knows how to push our emotional buttons without too heavy a hand. He trusts his own skill, the intrinsic interest of the material and — above all — the talent and dedication of the cast. From one scene to the next, you may know more or less what is coming, but it is never less than delightful to watch these actors at work.

Start with the three principals, whose struggles at NASA take place as the agency is scrambling to send an astronaut into orbit. Katherine Goble is the central hidden figure, a mathematical prodigy played with perfect nerd charisma by Taraji P. Henson. Katherine is plucked from the computing room and assigned to a team that will calculate the launch coordinates and trajectory for an Atlas rocket. She receives a cold welcome — particularly from an engineer named Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) — and is not spared the indignities facing a black woman in a racially segregated, gender-stratified workplace. The only bathroom she is allowed to use is in a distant building, and she horrifies her new co-workers when she helps herself to a cup of coffee.

Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) and Mary (Janelle Monáe) also face discrimination. Dorothy, who is in charge of several dozen computers, is repeatedly denied promotion to supervisor and treated with condescension by her immediate boss (Kirsten Dunst). The Polish-born engineer (Olek Krupa) with whom Mary works is more enlightened, but Mary runs into the brick wall of Virginia’s Jim Crow laws when she tries to take graduate-level physics courses.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Hidden Figures

Three female African-American mathematicians play a pivotal role in astronaut John Glenn's launch into orbit. Meanwhile, they also have to deal with racial and gender discrimination at work. Three female African-American mathematicians play a pivotal role in astronaut John Glenn's launch into orbit. Meanwhile, they also have to deal with racial and gender discrimination at work. Three female African-American mathematicians play a pivotal role in astronaut John Glenn's launch into orbit. Meanwhile, they also have to deal with racial and gender discrimination at work.

• Theodore Melfi
• Allison Schroeder
• Margot Lee Shetterly
• Taraji P. Henson
• Octavia Spencer
• Janelle Monáe
• 602 User reviews
• 439 Critic reviews
• 74 Metascore
• 37 wins & 94 nominations total

Top cast 99+

• Katherine G. Johnson

• Dorothy Vaughan

• Mary Jackson

• Al Harrison

• Vivian Mitchell

• Paul Stafford

• Colonel Jim Johnson

• Levi Jackson

• Karl Zielinski

• Young Katherine Coleman

• Mrs. Joylette Coleman

• Joylette Johnson

• Constance Johnson

• Kathy Johnson
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Astronaut John Glenn did specifically request that Katherine Johnson review all of the calculations for the Friendship 7 mission - (his dialogue in the film based on actual NASA transcripts*) - before he could be confident enough to proceed, but which in reality actually occurred a few weeks before launch: not as depicted in the film whilst awaiting the actual launch. And Katherine Johnson's calculations (more realistically) actually took (just!) three days to confirm. (*Director's own DVD commentary information.)
• Goofs In the movie, the impression is given that John Glenn 's flight was to have lasted seven orbits and was curtailed after three orbits due to the problem with the heat shield. This is incorrect as the flight was always scheduled for three orbits. Where the confusion comes in, on reaching orbit Glenn was given a "go" for seven orbits meaning the systems, fuel, oxygen, etc. could sustain the astronaut for seven orbits IF needed.

Al Harrison : Here at NASA we all pee the same color.

• Connections Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Robert De Niro/Pharrell Williams & Kim Burrell (2016)
• Soundtracks Crave Written and Performed by Pharrell Williams Pharrell Williams performs courtesy of i am OTHER Entertainment/Columbia Records

User reviews 602

• dave-mcclain
• Jan 12, 2017
• Why did Katherine take her work with her to the "colored women's" restroom if she knew she had to get back to the large workroom in a hurry ?
• What is the significance of the finger clicking when Jim Parsons holds up the newspaper?
• January 6, 2017 (United States)
• United States
• arabuloku.com
• Official Facebook
• Talentos ocultos
• East Point, Georgia, USA (Katherine's home)
• Fox 2000 Pictures
• Chernin Entertainment
• Levantine Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $25,000,000 (estimated)
• $169,607,287
• Dec 25, 2016
• $235,957,472

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

Review: ‘Hidden Figures’ is a Grade-A Hollywood crowd-pleaser in the best way

• Copy Link URL Copied!

Like the calculating women whose lives it celebrates, “Hidden Figures” knows what it’s doing.

A Grade-A Hollywood crowd-pleaser that happily celebrates its shameless moments, “Hidden Figures” can be teased but it can’t be ignored. The film may not be restrained but stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe are powerfully effective and its little-known true story is so flabbergasting that resistance is all but futile.

Before the word “computer” referred to a machine, it was a job description used for people, often women, who ran the numbers and did the heavy mathematical lifting serious science required.

As detailed in Margot Lee Shetterly’s book (which veteran producer Donna Gigliotti purchased just from an outline), not only were a group of these African American women “computers” working in the segregated South, they turned out to be critical to getting America’s 1960s space program off the ground.

Shetterly writes in the book’s introduction that the never-before-told story “defies our expectations and challenges much of what we think we knew about American history.”

“Hidden Figures” never misses a chance to go for the heart-tugging and the obvious as scripted by Allison Schroeder and directed by Theodore Melfi, a veteran commercial director who corralled Bill Murray in “St. Vincent.” But, frankly, if the film’s aesthetic standards were more rigorous, the end product might not be as out-and-out effective as the result undeniably is here.

“Hidden Figures” begins with a brief 1926 prologue introducing us to a young black girl who is a math prodigy inspiring awe in all who know her. “I’ve never seen,” a teacher tells her parents, “a mind like your daughter has.”

Thirty-five years later we meet that girl as the adult Katherine Johnson, one of three women carpooling to work at NASA’s Langley Memorial Research Lab in Hampton, Va. Or at least trying to: Their sturdy Chevrolet has broken down.

Momentarily stranded, the three women soon reveal their core personalities. Johnson (Henson), is still the brainy one, a complete whiz with numbers. Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer) is the practical one, looking under the hood to see what the problem is. Mary Jackson (Monáe), momentarily occupied with her lipstick, is charismatic and ambitious.

These three are part of what is known at Langley as the West Computing section, a group of some 20 mathematicians who were all African American women. As Jeff Nichols’ film “Loving” made clear this year, Virginia in 1961 was as segregated as any state in the Deep South. These women could not eat in the same restaurants, drink from the same water fountains or even, as brazenly becomes a major plot point, use the same restrooms as their white colleagues.

Though they all work at Langley, each of the three has a different job challenge and a different way they have to contend with the inescapable racism of the time and place. Super-capable Vaughan, for instance, wants to be made a supervisor, but NASA is dragging its feet and her white boss Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) is not going out of her way to help.

Jackson wants to become an engineer, and despite how bleak her chances are (no African American woman has achieved that title to date) she is determined to make the attempt.

The most interesting trajectory, so to speak, turns out to be Johnson’s. NASA is in a dog-eat-dog race with the Soviets to put people into space, and the man in charge of the Space Task Group, crusty Al Harrison (a composite figure deftly played by Kevin Costner), is a tough nut known to eat computers for lunch.

Out of desperation as much as anything else, Johnson is given a shot at a place on his staff, and though we know that she is as much of a wizard as Albus Dumbledore, “Hidden Figures” milks the situation for all its worth.

“Hidden Figures” also provides glimpses of the personal lives of its characters. Mary, for instance, is married to the civil rights firebrand Levi (Aldis Hodge), who initially does not see her struggles as significant. Johnson, for her part, a widow raising three daughters, catches the eye of Col. Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali, a star, like Monáe, of “Moonlight”), a good man who discovers that she is more impressive than he realized.

Understandably excited to be playing significant women, the trio of lead actresses are uniformly excellent, but the film’s script is structured to make Henson the first among equals, and she takes advantage of her opportunities.

She has a showstopping speech (hint: it involves those bathrooms) and the actress’ ability to put enormously complex equations on a huge chalkboard is impressive because the numbers and symbols had to be faultlessly memorized. The real Katherine Johnson, still alive and vibrant at age 98 and a recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, couldn’t have done it any better.

‘Hidden Figures’

MPAA rating: PG for thematic elements and some language

Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes

Playing: In general release

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »

Movie Trailers

[email protected]

More to Read

Review: ‘Seeking Mavis Beacon’ tracks down a cyberghost who taught a generation how to type

Sept. 6, 2024

‘Get to know your enemy.’ How Hollywood workers are learning to use AI

Sept. 2, 2024

Review: Emotionally, ‘Daughters’ shows prisoners reuniting with their children, just for a night

Aug. 9, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Kenneth Turan is the former film critic for the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Entertainment & Arts

Maggie Smith helped redefine what it means to grow old, particularly for women

Sept. 27, 2024

In a career of remarkable versatility, Maggie Smith revealed theatricality to be a mode of existence

Review: In the deeply felt ‘All Shall Be Well,’ grief gives way to a family’s pettiness

Review: It’s ‘Saturday Night,’ not as edgy as it really was, celebrated in a nostalgic haze

Most read in movies.

Review: A mother warns of terrors in ‘Never Let Go,’ but monsters are sometimes closer to home

Sept. 20, 2024

Cause of death revealed for Clint Eastwood’s longtime girlfriend Christina Sandera

July 24, 2024

Meet the makeup wizard who transformed Sebastian Stan into ‘A Different Man’

Film Review: ‘Hidden Figures’

Feel-good drama reveals the largely untold way in which race factored into the U.S.-Soviet space race.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

• Remembering Maggie Smith, Whose Biting Wit Deliciously Improved With Age 11 hours ago
• ‘Sketch’ Review: All the Monsters One Kid Can Imagine Come to Life in an Inventive Fable for the Whole Family 2 weeks ago
• ‘Heretic’ Review: Hugh Grant Is Genteelly Terrifying as a Creep Hell-Bent on Converting Others to His ‘One True Religion’ 2 weeks ago

Before IBM mainframes took over NASA’s number-crunching duties, the organization’s “computers” wore skirts. While an all-male team of engineers performed the calculations for potential space travel, women mathematicians checked their work, playing a vital role at a moment when the United States was neck-and-neck with (and for a time, running behind) the Soviets in the space race. As brash, bright, and broad as Hollywood studio movies come, “Hidden Figures” tells the story of three of these unsung heroes, all of them African-American, who fought a doubly steep uphill battle — as crusaders for both feminism and civil rights in segregated Virginia — to help put an American into orbit.

Today, there is nothing surprising about the fact that black women could handle such a task, and clearly NASA was realistic enough to recognize this at the time. What wasn’t necessarily evident in 1962 was that these “colored computers,” as they were called by NASA, deserved to be afforded the same rights and treated with the same respect as their white male colleagues — and what director Theodore Melfi (“St. Vincent”) illustrates via his simplistic, yet thoroughly satisfying retelling is just how thoroughly the deck was stacked against these women. “Hidden Figures” is empowerment cinema at its most populist, and one only wishes that the film had existed at the time it depicts — though ongoing racial tensions and gender double-standards suggest that perhaps we haven’t come such a long way, baby. Now 98, Taraji P. Henson ’s character, Katherine Johnson (after whom NASA later named a computational research facility), lived long enough to see a black president, but not a female commander-in-chief.

Related Stories

Emmys Rebound Bolsters 2024 Awards Show Ratings

Glen Powell Hulu Series 'Chad Powers' Casts Clayne Crawford, Toby Huss, Colton Ryan, Xavier Mills

Like “American Graffiti” or “The Help,” “Hidden Figures” takes place in a colorful, borderline-kitsch version of the American past. (Practically brandishing its vintage details and stunning costumes, the film takes place at roughly the same time and place as Jeff Nichols’ “Loving,” which offers a less splashy notion of the era in question.) An early scene shows Katherine and colleagues Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) repairing the Chevy Impala in which they carpool, when a white police officer pulls over in a scene whose tension hasn’t dissipated one iota in half a century. Once the cop realizes who they are, he volunteers to give the women a police escort. “Three negro women are chasing a white police officer down the highway in Hampton, Virginia, 1961,” quips Mary. “Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle!”

Popular on Variety

If only everyone’s mind could so easily be changed. At work, Katherine is promoted to a job with the Space Task Group, where manager Al Harrison ( Kevin Costner , whose gum-chewing, crew-cut look nails the era) is too distracted to notice tension between his employees, especially boss’s pet Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons, playing the sort of reductive stereotype that talented minorities have been forced to settle for over the past century — not ideal, as characterizations go, though such payback seems only fair).

Meanwhile, Dorothy takes orders from a curt, condescending white lady (Kirsten Dunst), who addresses Dorothy by her first name, and offers little help with her request for a promotion to supervisor, despite the fact Dorothy is already doing the job. As a woman, Vivian can empathize with the challenges of a discriminatory workplace; and yet, as a white woman, she doesn’t get it at all, oblivious to her subconscious role in keeping her black colleagues down (“Y’all should be thankful you have jobs at all,” she says), for which Dorothy quite rightly puts her in her place.

As in “Mad Men,” so much of the gender and race dynamics are conveyed via body language, subtext, and the telling way characters look at one another. But unlike the wonderfully subtle writing for that relatively sophisticated series, the “Hidden Figures” screenplay — which Melfi and Allison Schroeder adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly’s newly published nonfiction book — has a tendency to deliver its message via direct, on-the-nose dialogue (e.g. after defusing the segregated-bathroom problem, Kevin Costner decrees, “Here at NASA, we all pee the same color!”).

The bathroom scene is by far the movie’s most satisfying, in that it follows a series of cartoonish vignettes in which Katherine must dash half a mile in high heels, clear to the West Computing Building, in order to relieve herself — a daily humiliation amplified by the sound of a new Pharrell track called “Runnin’.” (Also a producer on the film, Pharrell puts a playful, upbeat spin on the patent unfairness these women faced, culminating in his terrifically empowering, gospel-infused “Victory.”) As vital as these scenes are, it’s practically groan-inducing to watch Henson — a talented actress whose exaggerated portrayal of a math whiz suggests Michelle Pfeiffer’s smart, yet haggard pre-Catwoman secretary in “Batman Returns” — awkwardly pantomiming someone with a bladder about to burst, but that’s the broad acting style Melfi encourages, and it’s the kind that inspires spontaneous ovations at the end of implausible monologues. (As crowd-pleasing ingredients go, “Hidden Figures” has nearly everything except a scene of a cat being rescued from a tree.)

Henson’s co-stars manage to play their own recurring challenges in more convincing ways — best exemplified as the beautiful, self-confident Mary (Monáe, launching a formidable acting career, between this and “Moonlight”) petitions the judge to let her take the necessary night courses that will allow her to apply for an open engineering position at NASA. Spencer’s Dorothy also faces obstacles at every turn, but cleverly anticipates how the IBM (which amusingly can’t even fit through the door of the empty room that awaits its arrival) will render her division obsolete, and plans accordingly, making herself indispensable.

Among the male roles, Mahershala Ali is every bit as strong as Costner at playing a skeptical man quick to recognize Katherine’s talents — supplying the film’s only romantic subplot in the process — while all-American astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) doesn’t so much as hesitate to accept the computers’ contributions. Before the launch of his Friendship 7 vessel, Glenn says, “Let’s get the girl to check the numbers.” When Harrison asks, “Which one?” Glenn doesn’t miss a beat: “The smart one.”

Reviewed at Fox studios, Dec. 2, 2016. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 126 MIN.

• Production: A 20th Century Fox release of a Fox 2000 Pictures presentation of a Chernin Entertainment, Levantine Films production. Produced by Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams, Theodore Melfi. Executive producers: Jamal Daniel, Renee Witt, Ivana Lombardi, Mimi Valdés, Kevin Halloran, Margot Lee Shetterly.
• Crew: Director: Theodore Melfi. Screenplay: Allison Schroeder, Melfi, based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Camera (color, widescreen): Mandy Walker). Editor: Peter Teschner.
• With: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Mahershala Ali, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Kimberly Quinn.

More from Variety

‘Think of England,’ WWII Satire About Secret U.K. Mission to Make Morale-Boosting Porn, Sets Ensemble Cast (EXCLUSIVE)

Netflix vs. YouTube: The Post-Streaming Wars Era’s Archrivalry

Apple Vision Pro Clouds the Bright Future for XR

More from our brands, timberland unveils notorious b.i.g. collab to mark 30th anniversary of ‘ready to die’.

Home Depot Co-Founder Bernie Marcus Just Put His Atlanta Condo on the Market for $5 Million

Reinsdorf Digging in as White Sox Lose 121st Game to Pass ’62 Mets

The Best Loofahs and Body Scrubbers, According to Dermatologists

Power Book II: Ghost’s [Spoiler] Meets a Bloody End in Lead-Up to the Series Finale — Read Recap

• Entertainment
• Review: <i>Hidden Figures</i> Proves There’s Power in Numbers

Review: Hidden Figures Proves There’s Power in Numbers

I n the grand scheme, numbers mean everything: Our very bodies are made of equations. Yet movies about people who deal in numbers—often foisted on us as spinachy, good-for-us entertainment during prestige-movie season—tend to be deadly dull. Who needs to see another white dude grab a piece of chalk and start writing feverishly on a blackboard?

But even if numbers are everywhere, they still have the capacity to surprise us. Hidden Figures, both a dazzling piece of entertainment and a window into history, bucks the trend of the boring-math-guy movie. Its characters are based on real-life people, a trio of African American math whizzes who also happened to be women, and who were employed by NASA in the early 1960s to help crunch crucial data for the first space missions. When Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), the harried engineer in charge of NASA’s groovily named Space Task Group, asks in exasperation, “We don’t have a single person in this entire building that can handle analytic geometry?” the unassuming woman who’s sent to his office is Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), a former child prodigy who has found work at Langley Research Center as a “computer,” the term given to women skilled at running calculations on an adding machine. (And because this is pre-integration Virginia we’re talking about, she’s dispatched from a room designated for “Colored Computers.”)

Katherine can do more than just run an adding machine, as she quickly proves. Even so, the obstacles she faces are almost as daunting as putting a man into space. Jealous, resentful colleagues (one of them played by The Big Bang Theory ’s Jim Parsons) try to undermine her: She’s black and a woman, a double whammy their threatened white male egos just can’t handle. When she tries to pour coffee from the office’s communal coffee pot, her colleagues, all white and nearly all male, shoot knowing glances at one another—and the next day, a small, separate-but-supposedly-equal pot appears on the table, specifically for her use. The only restroom she’s allowed to use is in another building, a half mile away. She brings her work with her on these bathroom breaks, but that doesn’t matter. The round trip takes so long that her absence raises eyebrows.

Meanwhile, two of Katherine’s friends and colleagues at Langley steer around their own roadblocks: Utra-capable Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) is doing the work of a manager, though her covertly racist boss (Kirsten Dunst) refuses to either promote her or pay her what she’s worth. And Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), another gifted mathematician, decides to make the leap to become an engineer—only to find that if it’s hard enough for a white woman to pull that off, it’s nearly impossible for a woman of color.

It’s one thing, though, to outline what Hidden Figures is about. It’s something else to bask in the movie’s spirit. Directed by Theodore Melfi ( St. Vincent ) and adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly’s book Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, the picture is buoyant and alert every minute. Henson, Spencer and Monáe all give superb, luminous performances: Watching them is pure pleasure. Even Katherine’s big writing-on-the-blackboard moment is different from similar scenes we’ve seen thousands of times before. Her drive to use numbers to show the world who she truly is has a specific and pointed context here: Numbers have no color, and no gender, either.

And when Katherine walks into the Space Task Group office for the first time—as a sea of white guys in identical white shirts and dark ties turn to stare at her, wondering what on Earth she’s doing there—the spirit of the room shifts perceptibly. She’s different from them, because she’s a woman and she’s black. In her simple, unassuming plaid dress and smart-girl cat’s-eye glasses, she’s about to challenge their world—and change it for the better. Hidden Figures brings that stealth triumph into the light, one number at a time.

More Must-Reads from TIME

• The Reinvention of J.D. Vance
• Iran, Trump, and the Third Assassination Plot
• Welcome to the Golden Age of Scams
• Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains?
• 33 True Crime Documentaries That Shaped the Genre
• The Ordained Rabbi Who Bought a Porn Company
• Introducing the Democracy Defenders
• Why Gut Health Issues Are More Common in Women

Contact us at [email protected]

Hidden Figures Review

An overlooked chapter in america's space history..

Hidden Figures fills in an all too forgotten, or simply too widely unknown, blank in US history in a classy, engaging, entertaining and hugely fulfilling way. Superb performances across the board and a fascinating story alone make Hidden Figures a solid, an accomplished and deftly executed movie that entertains, engages and earns your time, money and attention.

In This Article

Where to Watch

More Reviews by Simon Thompson

Ign recommends.

Explaining – and Fixing – IGN's Face-Off Controversy

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Hidden Figures : EW review

The sky was no limit for the American dream of the 1960s, that heady era of transformation, inspiration, and suddenly possible impossibles — of shooting, literally, for the moon. But the dream wasn’t distributed equally, of course: As black women in the still-­segregated South, ladies like Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) couldn’t sit in the front of a bus, take a seat at a soda fountain, or even check out a book not approved for the scant “colored” section of the local library. One thing they could do, in their own heavily circumscribed way, was work at NASA — if not in the lead guard of launch metrics or mission control, at least in the bowels of the sprawling Langley, Virginia campus where humans still handled the daily computing work that hadn’t yet been preempted by machines.

Hidden Figures is dedicated to celebrating those overlooked heroines, particularly Katherine: A young widow with three daughters at home, she has analytical gifts exceptional enough to bring her all the way to the room where it happens — the exclusive (and blindingly white) boys’ club responsible for the actual rocket science of the Mercury and Apollo missions. At the same time, Spencer’s Dorothy struggles to earn the title and salary she knows her work merits, and Monáe’s Mary fights for the right to take the engineering courses in a state whose Jim Crow laws forbid her mere presence on campus. Both actresses bring compelling humanity to underwritten roles, especially Monáe; in only her second major screen role after Moonlight , she fairly glows with life force.

It falls on Henson, though, to carry the narrative: Demure in cat’s-eye glasses and knee-hobbling pencil skirts, her Katherine is miles away from the wild, chinchilla-clad id of Empire ’s Cookie; instead, she’s a stealth warrior, facing down every fresh trial and slight with steely, speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-protractor resolve. (Among her peers, though few would deign to call themselves that, are the expected enemies — Jim Parsons’ persnickety fellow mathematician, Kirsten Dunst’s snide supervisor — and a few less expected allies, including Kevin Costner as the program’s gruff but kind director and Glen Powell’s sweet, courtly John Glenn.)

Charged with streamlining Figures ’ knotty real-life histories, director Theodore Melfi ( St. Vincent ) tends to paint too much in the broad, amiable strokes of a triumph-of-the-week TV movie. But even his earthbound execution can’t dim the sheer magnetic pull of an extraordinary story. B+

Related Articles

What Sets the Smart Heroines of Hidden Figures Apart

Movies about brilliant scientific or mathematical minds often focus on their subject’s ego—not so with a new film about three African American women who worked at NASA in the ’60s.

When it comes to historical movies about brilliant minds, especially in the realms of math or the sciences, audiences can all but expect a tale of ego. Films such as A Beautiful Mind , The Theory of Everything , and The Imitation Game all lean in some way on the idea of the inaccessible genius—a mathematician, computer scientist, and theoretical physicist all somehow removed from the world.

Hidden Figures is not that kind of film: It’s a story of brilliance, but not of ego. It’s a story of struggle and willpower, but not of individual glory. Set in 1960s Virginia, the film centers on three pioneering African American women whose calculations for NASA were integral to several historic space missions, including John Glenn’s successful orbit of the Earth. These women—Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan—were superlative mathematicians and engineers despite starting their careers in segregation-era America and facing discrimination at home, at school, and at work.

Recommended Reading

Queen of Katwe Is the Best Kind of Feel-Good Story

How Pink Salt Took Over Millennial Kitchens

4 Rules for Identifying Your Life’s Work

And yet Hidden Figures pays tribute to its subjects by doing the opposite of what many biopics have done in the past—it looks closely at the remarkable person in the context of a community. Directed by Theodore Melfi ( St. Vincent ) and based on the nonfiction book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film celebrates individual mettle, but also the way its characters consistently try to lift others up.  They’re phenomenal at what they do, but they’re also generous with their time, their energy, and their patience in a way that feels humane, not saintly. By refracting the overlooked lives and accomplishments of Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson through this lens, Hidden Figures manages to be more than an inspiring history lesson with wonderful performances.

From the start, Hidden Figures makes clear that it is about a trio, not a lone heroine. Katherine (played by a radiant Taraji P. Henson) is the film’s ostensible protagonist and gets the most screen time. But her story is woven tightly with those of Mary (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy (Octavia Spencer); the former became NASA’s first black female engineer , the latter was a mathematician who became NASA’s first African American manager . (It’s worth noting that, as a dramatization, the film makes tweaks to the timeline, characters, and events of the books.)

Hidden Figures begins in earnest in 1961. Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy are part of NASA’s pool of human “computers” —employees, usually women, charged with doing calculations before the use of digital computers. Due to Virginia’s segregation laws, African American female computers have to work in a separate “colored” building at the Langley Research Center. But the U.S. is so desperate to beat the Soviet Union into space that NASA becomes a reluctant meritocracy: Because of her expertise in analytic geometry, Katherine is assigned to a special task group trying to get Glenn into orbit. She arrives at her new job to find she’s the sole brown face in the room.

Katherine is closest to the excitement, but Hidden Figures widens its scope beyond her. Mary must navigate layers of racist bureaucratic hurdles in her quest to become an engineer. Dorothy is fighting for a long overdue promotion, while the arrival of an IBM machine threatens to put her team of computers out of work. The women consistently out-think their higher-ranked (usually white, male) colleagues, whether by learning a new programming language, solving problems in wind-tunnel experiments, or calculating narrow launch windows for space missions. Each is uniquely aware of the broader stakes of her success—for other women, for black people, for black women, and for America at large—and this knowledge is as much an inspiration as it is a heavy weight.

Early on, Dorothy shares her ambivalence about Katherine’s prestigious new assignment. “Any upward movement is movement for us all. It’s just not movement for me,” she says, disappointed after a setback at work. It’s a subtle, but loaded point, and one of the most thought-provoking lines in the film. Of course she’s proud of Katherine, and of course Katherine is paving the way for others. But individual victories are often simply that—Katherine knocking down one pillar of discrimination doesn’t mean countless more don’t remain. Still, Dorothy’s frustration with her stagnation at work doesn’t translate to defeatism or selfishness. She spends much of the film maneuvering to protect her team’s jobs, even if it means risking her own status and security.

Their intellect may not be broadly relatable (again, they’re exceptional for a reason), but their sense of rootedness is. Though most of their time and energy go to their careers, the women of Hidden Figures don’t take their relationships with each other and with their friends and families for granted. If one gets held up at work for hours, the other two wait in the parking lot until they can all drive home. On the weekends, they go to church and neighborhood barbecues and spend time with their children. They don’t “have it all,” but they do strive for balance and connection. (Another “feel-good film” from 2016, Queen of Katwe , also used the concept of community and interdependence to undermine the built-up notion of isolated talent.)

Despite the racism and sexism Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary face, Hidden Figures is a decidedly un-somber affair. The breezy script by Melfi and Allison Schroeder opts not to dwell much on the particulars of aeronautical science; instead, it revels in the intelligence and warmth of its subjects, in their successes both in and out of the office, and it wants viewers to do so too. Hidden Figures doesn’t hide its efforts to be a crowdpleaser—depending on audience size, you can expect clapping and cheering after moments of victory, and loud groans whenever egregious acts of racism take place (there are many). A buoyant soundtrack by Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Benjamin Wallfisch and regular doses of comic relief help keep the tone light and optimistic despite the serious issues at hand.

Rounding out Hidden Figures ’ all-star cast are Kevin Costner, as Katherine’s boss and eventual ally; an appropriately un-funny Jim Parsons as a new colleague of Katherine’s who can barely tolerate her presence; Kirsten Dunst as Dorothy’s manager and the epitome of the racist-who-thinks-she’s-not type; Glen Powell as an affable John Glenn; and Mahershala Ali as Katherine’s kindly love interest, Jim Johnson. Because of the engaging performances that Henson, Monáe, and Spencer give, each main character is fascinating to watch in her own right. But it’s their dynamic that makes it a joy to see them onscreen together.

Hidden Figures doesn’t try to push many artistic boundaries, but it tells its story so well that it doesn’t really have to. The film also avoids the most glaring missteps of historical movies that deal with race: At no point does it try to give viewers the impression that racism has been “solved,” and its white characters exist on a constantly shifting spectrum of racial enlightenment. What’s more, the film’s straightforward presentation belies its fairly radical subject matter. As K. Austin Collins notes at The Ringer , Hidden Figures “might be one of the few Hollywood movies about the civil rights era to imagine that black lives in the ’60s, particularly black women’s lives, were affected not only by racism but also by the space race and the Cold War.”

The Hidden Figures author, Shetterly, has discussed how the film only portrays a fraction of the individuals who worked on the space program— and how the movie was meant to speak to the experiences of the many African American women working at NASA at the time.  Watching this particular story unfurl on the big screen, it’s hard not to think of how many more movies and books could be made about women like Katherine Johnson—talented women shut out of promotions and meetings and elite programs and institutions and, thus history, because they weren’t white. Even today, barriers remain. A 2015 study found 100 percent of women of color in STEM fields report experiencing gender bias at work, an effect often influenced by their race. Black and Latina women, for example, reported being mistaken for janitors (a scene that, fittingly, takes place in Hidden Figures ).

With the complex social forces that shaped its characters’ lives still so relevant today, Hidden Figures is powerful precisely because it’s not a solo portrait or a close character study. Certainly, Hollywood will be a better industry when there are more films about the egos and personal demons and grand triumphs of black women who helped to change the world. But Hidden Figures shines with respect for sisterhood and the communistic spirit, and in casting its spotlight wide, the film imparts a profound appreciation for what was achieved in history’s shadows.

About the Author

More Stories

Jungkook of BTS Is Chasing His Pop-Star Dream

How BTS Did It

Screen Rant

Hidden figures review.

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

10 Most Cringe-Worthy Quotes In DC Movies

Encanto live-action images imagine mirabel, the madrigal family & their magical house in stunning detail, sonic the hedgehog 3 rouge the bat casting rumors addressed by award-winning actor, hidden figures is the rare true story-based historical drama that succeeds at being as inspirational and feel-good as it aspires to be..

It's the early 1960s and the United States is in the heat of a race with the Soviet Union to be the first to break new ground in the final frontier: space. Mathematicians Katherine Coleman (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) are all black women working in the segregated West Area Computers division at the NASA Research Center in Langley when one day, Katherine is unexpectedly recruited to serve as a (human) computer for the Space Task Group that is concentrating on getting a man into orbit around the Earth - with gruff, but focused and goal-oriented, director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) leading the charge.

Katherine, who has proven to be a mathematical prodigy since she was a child, struggles to keep up with the intense demands place upon her, largely because of the racist treatment that she must deal with - something that also holds true for both Dorothy and Mary, in their own efforts to work their way up the ladder at NASA. However, as it becomes clearer and clearer that the Soviets are pulling ahead in the space race, Harrison and the other bosses at NASA are faced with the reality: either they will all get there together, as equals, or not at all.

Based on the book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly and adapted for the screen by co-writers Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi (with the latter also directing), Hidden Figures explores a largely unknown aspect of NASA history that - in an example of art imitating life - has taken longer than it should have to get its fair due, following the release of several movies and TV series about the 1960s Space Race. Nevertheless, that story certainly benefits from being told by strong talent on both sides of the camera, with Melfi applying the same warm and humane touch here that he brought to his breakout comedy/drama effort, St. Vincent .   As such,  Hidden Figures  is the rare true story-based historical drama that succeeds at being as inspirational and feel-good as it aspires to be.

Hidden Figures ' three leads - Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, Oscar-nominee Taraji P. Henson and award-winning musician/actor Janelle Monáe - further elevate the film with their respective performances as a trio of equally smart, but very different women making their way in a time and place that is openly segregated in more ways than one. All three of Hidden Figure 's stars deliver naturalistic and relatable performances too, making their characters' arcs and how they respond to the challenges that they are presented with, all the more satisfying for it. The script by Schroeder and Melfi is also thoughtful in how its frames its protagonists' experiences by juxtaposing them with major events of its historical setting in the background, creating an effective thematic throughline about how systematic prejudice only impedes the world's progress on multiple fronts, social and scientific alike.

The historical setting of Hidden Figures itself is brought to life through handsome visuals captured by Melfi and his cinematographer Mandy Walker ( Australia , Jane Got a Gun ), that are by and large seamlessly blended with archival footage from the decade, in combination with some of the best '60s costume designs - from the dress shirts worn by the men of NASA to the eye-catching dresses worn by the women - by Renee Ehrlich Kalfus this side of Mad Men . Further helping to establish a strong sense of time and place in Hidden Figures is the film's use of music, ranging from classic pop tunes to original music (including the catchy song "Runnin'" by Pharrell Williams) that matches the popular styles and trends of the time period. This more general aesthetic of historical accuracy with a touch of modernism, is reflective of how  Hidden Figures as a whole paints life in the 1960s and quietly leaves it to moviegoers to draw parallels to present-day events (or not) as they will.

Similarly, Hidden Figures portrays its white supporting characters not as two-dimensional antagonists that are easy to disassociate with (for those watching the film), but as fully-developed individuals who have little reason to question or acknowledge their segregated way of life, unless they are confronted about it. Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst in turn deliver multifaceted performances here as the NASA Space Task Group's head engineer Paul Stafford and Dorothy's superior Vivian Mitchell, respectively; both of them characters in positions of authority who quietly undergo personal journeys of their own, over the course of the film. Meanwhile, Kevin Costner once again proves to be a strong fit for an objective-driven, no-nonsense, leader type in the 1960s (after his work in JFK and Thirteen Days ) with his turn as the NASA Space Task Group's director, Al Harrison.

The supporting cast for  Hidden Figures  also includes a handful of recognizable character actors in less essential, but nonetheless relevant and enjoyable performances. While such actors as Glen Powell ( Everybody Wants Some!! ) and Aldis Hodge ( Straight Outta Compton ) are noteworthy for their appearances as the iconic (and charismatic) astronaut John Glenn and Mary Jackson's husband, Levi, the standout in Hidden Figures ' larger ensemble is easily Mahershala Ali as military man Jim Johnson. The romantic subplot involving Jim and Katherine is somewhat under-developed in the greater scheme of the movie, but thanks to Ali's charming performance and his easy-going screen chemistry with Henson, the relationship that forms between the two is convincing nonetheless.

Hidden Figures  doesn't stray far from the tried-and-true Hollywood formula for how to transform a true story into an uplifting filmgoing experience - but thanks to its strong execution (acting and direction alike), it succeeds at turning its real-world subject matter into an equally captivating and entertaining story to watch unfold on the big screen. As such, Hidden Figures provides a welcome alternative to some of the more emotionally and thematically dark drama offerings of the ongoing movie awards season, as well as a nice and timely reminder for everyone: we're all in this (space) race together.

Hidden Figures is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide. It is 127 minutes long and is Rated PG for thematic elements and some language.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments section!

Hidden Figures

Based on the lives of Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, Hidden Figures tells the untold stories of the three African-American mathematicians and their work at NASA during the Space Race of the 1960s. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe star as Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson respectively, with a further cast that includes Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, and Mahershala Ali.

• Movie Reviews
• 4 star movies

‘Hidden Figures’ Review: Fighting Racism in the Space Race

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Robert Downey Jr. Seems To Confirm Which Doctor Doom He's Playing and I'm Freaking Out

The 10 best stanley kubrick movies with great acting, ranked, the entire godfather saga will stream for free soon.

[ Hidden Figures opens in wide release on Friday.]

If Hidden Figures had been released a decade ago, it would probably be labeled a “nice movie” and we would all move on. But when we live in the time where we’re forced to recognize the necessity and urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement and Nazis have the ear of the future President, Hidden Figures ’ talent for informing and uplifting its audience feels essential. While it may lack the aggressive artistry of this year’s Oscar fare, few movies have felt as rewarding as Theodore Melfi ’s drama about three African-American women who made essential contributions to the U.S. space race. Anchored by three tremendous performances from its leading actresses, Hidden Figures is a movie that isn’t just worth seeing; it demands to be seen.

Set in the early days of the space race, the story, which is based on true events, follows NASA employees Katherine Johnson ( Taraji P. Henson ), Dorothy Vaughan ( Octavia Spencer ), and Mary Jackson ( Janelle Monae ). Johnson is a brilliant mathematician, Vaughan is a supervisor over the African-American computers (the brilliant women who worked on calculations), and Jackson is an aspiring engineer. With Russia having recently sent Yuri Gagarin up into orbit, the U.S. is struggling to catch up, but with the efforts of Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson, the program is able to advance. However, even at the cutting edge of scientific progress, these three women must face the hardships of discrimination as they deal with institutionalized segregation.

One of the remarkable things about Hidden Figures is how it shows that there’s not necessarily one “solution” to the problem of institutionalized racism. The outcome is usually that these amazing women have to work twice as hard to do the things that their white peers achieve without a second thought. When Jackson is denied the opportunity to be an engineer because they keep moving to goalposts on the necessary degrees, she has to take her case to court and play to the judge’s ego just so she can take the required night classes to get her degree. When NASA brings in IBM computers and Vaughn can see that her job and the jobs of her computers are living on borrowed time, she makes sure that she and her computers learn how to program the IBM.

The movie also shows how the hatefulness of discrimination doesn’t just hurt individuals; it hurts human progress. Whenever Johnson needs to take a bathroom break, she has to walk a half-mile just to reach a “coloreds only” lavatory. Eventually, her supervisor, Al Harrison ( Kevin Costner ), wants to know where she’s going every day and she angrily explains her predicament. Chastened, Harrison eventually takes a crowbar to the “whites only” lavatory sign in his building. It’s a corny moment, and one that plays up the charity of the enlightened white man, but thankfully moments like these a few and far between. Hidden Figures keeps its eye largely on Johnson, Vaughn, and Jackson, and it’s to the film’s great benefit because of the point it’s making with regards to racism.

Some may feel that there are too many montages of Johnson making her daily excursion to the restroom, but Melfi is showing it because we’re forced to realize how much time she’s spending just to obey a dumb, awful law. What’s being said without any character having to say it is that Johnson could have spent so much more time working on her calculations and helping America if America wasn’t busy screwing her over. It’s a special kind of selflessness to work your ass off to help a country that is bent on keeping you down. And then, we can expand that to see how by short-changing not only Johnson but also Vaughn, Jackson, and countless other minorities, we’re only hurting our country. Hate can only send us backwards.

This message may play a little heavy handed or even like an afterschool special if not for the Oscar-caliber performances of Henson, Spencer, and Monae. I’ve been a huge fan of Henson’s work ever since the criminally under-seen Talk to Me , and while she’s finally receiving the acclaim she’s long deserved thanks to her work on Empire , she’s also excellent as Johnson. She plays the character’s shyness and tenacity to powerful effect, and gives a human, heroic performance that never falls into hagiography. Spencer delivers the same level of gravitas we’ve come to expect from her, and provides a reminder why she’s an Oscar-winner. And as for Monae, this is a breakthrough performance of the highest order. She plays Jackson with commanding verve and confidence. If Hidden Figures is a success, then Monae should be on the A-list.

I imagine some will dismiss Hidden Figures as soft-serve drama, and there are times (like the aforementioned scene of Costner knocking down the segregated bathroom sign) where it can be heavy-handed, but Melfi never loses sight of the real reason this film will make you angry and make you cheer. It’s not a film where people casually throw out the n-word or racism is something that’s long since past. Hidden Figures may not be a groundbreaking film, but it’s one we need right now.

• Taraji P. Henson

‘Hidden Figures’ Review: Three Women Make History in Inspirational Space-Race Drama

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Did you know that three female African-American mathematicians, working at NASA in 1962, were instrumental in getting the Mercury program into orbit and winning the U.S. space race against the Soviets? Me neither. That’s why Hidden Figures is such an instructive and wildly entertaining eye-opener. There’s nothing particularly innovative about the filmmaking – director Theodore Melfi ( St. Vincent ) mostly sticks to the record in the script he wrote with Allison Schroeder from the nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly. But it’s the smart move. This is a story that doesn’t need frills. It simply needs telling, and the fact it gets three dynamite actresses to tell it does poetic justice to both these women and the Civil Rights movement at large.

Taraji P. Henson excels as Katherine Johnson, a math prodigy who extraordinary talent brought her to the NASA facility in Langley, Virginia in 1961. Now 98, Ms. Johnson has lived to see a research facility named after her. Things were far from that open-minded, however, when she and her colleagues, Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer, killer good), hit segregated Virginia to work on the space program. Known as “colored computers” – the latter word being the organization’s term for employees who did low-level calculations – these women soon made their mark against daunting odds. In an early scene, the car-pooling trio are pulled over by a white cop who finds it hard to belief that they work at NASA or even that Dorothy is capable of fixing a Chevy Impala herself.

Katherine is first to be promoted to a job with the Space Task Group, where manager Al Harrison (Kevin Costner, getting everything right) sees her talent – even if he clearly favors her peer Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons, nailing the casual racism of the period). Still, it’s Harrison who takes action when he realizes she has to walk half a mile to get to a “Colored Ladies Room.” “Here at NASA, we all pee the same color,” he says, tearing down the restroom-segregation sign in a scene that lets Costner spit out the words with spirited authority.

Editor’s picks

The 100 best tv episodes of all time, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, 25 most influential creators of 2024.

Mary has to go to court for permission to take night courses needed merely to apply for an open job in engineering. Monáe is terrific in the role, showing here and in Moonlight that she has the right stuff to launch an acting career to match her success in music. Best of all is Spencer, an Oscar winner for The Help, who is funny, fierce and quietly devastating at showing the punishing increments it takes for Dorothy to inch up the NASA ladder. Her white supervisor, Mrs. Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), refuses to give her a supervisor title even though she’s already doing the job. Spencer delivers a priceless putdown that pays gutsy respect to these boundary-breaking pioneers.

Childless GOP Candidate Borrows Friend’s Wife and Kids for Photo Ops

Sean combs' history of controversies and allegations, as death rate surges, texas asks supreme court to let it keep denying care to pregnant women, sean combs sexually assaulted, drugged and tracked model's location, lawsuit claims.

The drama finds little time for the personal lives of its protagonists, though the widowed Katherine is allowed a romance with a National Guard officer, played with humor and heart by Mahershala Ali. The emphasis here is watching these remarkable women at work. Dorothy sees the future in the new IBM machines being tested to speed up the space program, and takes appropriate action. Mary tells a judge that ordering desegregation of the all-white school she needs to study at would make him a pioneer. Katherine faces the toughest obstacles, working against the NASA rule of denying security clearances to female employees. But even astronaut John Glenn ( Glen Powell ) dubs Katherine “the smart one.” The story may be corny at times, even simplistic, but that doesn’t stop you from wanting to stand up and cheer. Lots of movies are labeled as “inspirational” – Hidden Figures truly earns the right to the term.

Daniel Radcliffe Praises Maggie Smith's 'Fierce Intellect' in Tribute

• Remembering a Great
• By Tomás Mier

King Charles, Whoopi Goldberg, Viola Davis, More Pay Tribute to Maggie Smith: 'A National Treasure'

• Rest in Peace

'My Old Ass': What Do You Tell Your Younger Self? And What If You Grow Up to Be Aubrey Plaza?

• MOVIE REVIEW
• By David Fear

Maggie Smith, Renowned Actress of 'Downton Abbey' and 'Harry Potter,' Dead at 89

• By Daniel Kreps

Watch Jimmy Fallon Inexplicably Subject Prince Harry to a Haunted House

• Jump Scares
• By Emily Zemler

Most Popular

50 cent sets diddy abuse allegations docuseries at netflix: 'it's a complex narrative spanning decades' (exclusive), al b. sure calls for an investigation into death of diddy’s ex kim porter , archaeologists solve mystery behind black tombstone found in jamestown carrying an english knight, suge knight claims jay-z, dr. dre, and other industry people were privy to diddy's alleged criminal activity, you might also like, norwegian director eirik svensson’s africa-set drama ‘safe house’ tells pulled-from-headlines story of aid worker’s harrowing plight, inside victoria beckham’s château show with eva longoria, sofia vegara, and helena christensen, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, can’t wait for more ‘terrifier’ sean byrne’s ‘the loved ones’ belongs on your dance card, reinsdorf digging in as white sox lose 121st game to pass ’62 mets.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Hidden Figures

Ted Melfi's Hidden Figures is exactly the kind of movie you think that it is, based on the trailers and TV spots. It's a sentimental, inspirational crowd pleaser lifted from the glossed-over corners of our nation's history books, telling a true tale of underdogs overcoming adversity to accomplish something extraordinary. Only, Hidden Figures is an excellent example of this specific type of film, an exceptional film bolstered by sensational performances that stands apart from soft and simple biopic pap because it wrestles complicated social issues to the ground and sets its lessons to a winning beat of original Pharrell Williams tunes. In general, everything about Hidden Figures works, and it all works very, very well.

Set during the tense and turbulent days of the Space Race being waged between NASA, the United States and our international rivals overseas, Hidden Figures spotlights three African-American women who helped move mountains behind the scenes as our nation's top minds worked to orbit John Glenn ( Glen Powell ) around the Earth. We are shown a young Katherine Johnson ( Taraji P. Henson ) testing off of the charts in her early education classes, meaning she'd be a no-brainer asset for NASA's space program. Only, obviously, Katherine and her colleagues are African-American, and segregation trumps education during these divided times.

Toiling alongside Katherine Johnson -- and facing their own work-related hurdles -- are Dorothy Vaughan (portrayed by the stoic and patient Octavia Spencer ) and Mary Jackson (played by feisty newcomer Janelle Monae ). The former, despite years of on-the-job dedication, can't seem to qualify for a managerial position at NASA, for which she's practically overqualified. The latter is pursuing a degree in engineering, but has to wage war in the legal system to simply earn the right to attend classes for which she's more than prepared to dominate.

Melfi spends enough time with these ladies to keep us invested in the outcomes of their struggles, but the bulk of Hidden Figures is dedicated to Katherine Johnson. And to borrow a celestial analogy apropos of the story, Taraji P. Henson holds court like a planet around which everyone else in Hidden Figures orbits, attracted by the gravitational pull of her dramatic intensity. I don't watch Empire , but Hidden Figures convinced me to start giving it a try. Henson is spectacular here, plugging into the wide range of emotions needed to illustrate the steps of Katherine's realistically complicated journey. First, she's a woman, trying to succeed in the brainy Boys' Club that is NASA in the 1960s. Second, she's a Black woman trying to carve her niche in a segregated nation. Melfi tries to round out Katherine's calculated personality by giving her a love interest ( Moonlight 's Mahershala Ali ), but it's unnecessary. Everything we really need out of Hidden Figures happens in the hallways and offices of NASA as Katherine helps crunch numbers to get John Glenn into orbit and back.

In this effort, Henson is met by two white, male actors counterbalancing her uphill battle. Big Bang star Jim Parsons brings a shade of that nerdy character to Hidden Figures to play a colleague who doubts Katherine's abilities... until he doesn't. The meatier part goes to Kevin Costner , who's "boss" character is a composite of several real scientists at NASA, which Costner molds into a warm gel of support and superiority, pushing Katherine to be the best that she can be. Hidden Figures is at its absolute best when Henson and Costner bubble their conflict to a boiling point and argue about where Katherine spends the bulk of her time... racing across NASA's campus to use a Colored's Only restroom. It's a Movie Star scene, and they each give Movie Star performances in it. I wouldn't be stunned if that scene, alone, earns them Oscar nominations.

The rest of Hidden Figures falls in line, pushing the right buttons and pulling the right strings to deliver a winning, crowd-pleasing historical drama that's American in its unabashed pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps and overcome tone and mentality. Again, it's probably exactly the type of movie that you think that it is. Only, it's better at being that type of movie than you probably expected.

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.

Amanda Seyfried Detailing Why Her Daughter Is 'Obsessed' With Mamma Mia! Is The Most Wholesome Thing

10 Iconic Black Voice Actors Who Deserve Their Flowers

Andy Samberg And Seth Meyers Did A Weekend Update Sketch About That Well-Endowed Olympian On The Late Show, And I’m Howling

Most Popular

• 2 After NBC's One Chicago Showrunners Revealed They Have A Text Chain Together, Here's What They Told Us About Upcoming Crossovers
• 3 Amanda Seyfried Detailing Why Her Daughter Is 'Obsessed' With Mamma Mia! Is The Most Wholesome Thing
• 4 Hear Me Out: I've Been Watching Futurama Season 12 And I Have A Wild Theory About The Upcoming Finale And Where The Show Is Going
• 5 After Watching Elrond Save Galadriel On Rings Of Power, Morfydd Clark’s Comments About Why Their Rift Was ‘Important For Middle-Earth’ Are Hitting Me So Hard

Hidden Figures (United States, 2016)

Hidden Figures is an old-fashioned inspirational tale about the undertrodden overcoming. Based on real people, real times, and real events, the film uses the never-say-die attitudes of three women to provide a window into the racism and sexism that permeated all facets of American culture during the middle of the 20th century. Although “softer” than many other recent movies about this subject (the PG rating creates stringent limits on how edgy things can get), Hidden Figures is nevertheless able to illustrate the exclusivity of the white male corporate power base and show how three unlikely black women were able to punch through the envelope.

Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary are three best friends who work as “computors” in NASA’s pre-electronic era. The racially segregated computors are women who perform the menial computations that allow the male engineers and scientists to plot orbits and determine safety margins for rocket launches. Katherine and Mary are selected for assignments to work directly with the men while Dorothy remains behind to run the black computor room, despite lacking the title and pay raise that should go along with her job. Working on a team designing heat shielding for capsules, Mary determines that she has an aptitude for engineering and, despite obstacles based on both her sex and race, she pushes forward with a single-minded determination that requires a court challenge of segregation laws. Meanwhile, Katherine’s skills as a mathematician get her noticed by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), the director of the Space Task Group, who gives her increasingly important tasks as the Friendship 7 (Glenn’s Earth orbit) mission approaches.

Hidden Figures does what it can to convey the lack of workplace equality without resorting to the use of racial epithets or physical violence, neither of which would be allowed in a PG-rated movie. The film’s most pointed statement is presented with a flair of absurdist comedy as it shows the long, time-consuming trek Katherine must endure any time she needs to use the bathroom since the only lavatory in the laboratory is a “whites only” facility. So, rain or shine, she must go all the way to the computors’ building to find a place where she is allowed to go. Harrison’s reaction when he learns of this is a reminder that some in the 1960s were able to see past skin color.

Historical fudges aside, Hidden Figures provides an example of determination and talent triumphing over an unfair and repressive system - something that, although grounded by the time period in which the story unfolds, has relevance beyond the decade or the century in which it transpires.

Comments Add Comment

• Cider House Rules, The (1999)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• War Zone, The (1999)
• Hole in My Heart, A (2005)
• Neon Demon, The (2016)
• Showgirls (1995)
• Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The (2008)
• Hustle & Flow (2005)
• Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
• What Men Want (2019)
• Date Night (2010)
• Karate Kid, The (2010)
• Fruitvale Station (2013)
• Shape of Water, The (2017)
• Help, The (2011)
• Thunder Force (2021)
• Allegiant (2016)
• Witches, The (2020)
• Moonlight (2016)
• Glass Onion (2022)
• Harriet (2019)
• (There are no more worst movies of Janelle Monae)

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• What Is Cinema?

You Can Feel Good About Enjoying Hidden Figures

Feel-good has a bad rap, and not entirely unfairly. Many movies made in that genre—pandering, problematic treacle like The Blind Side, bizarre movies about Jennifer Garner finding a plant baby in her backyard —are often pretty awful, syrupy with a manufactured, chemical aftertaste. So I went into Hidden Figures —a based-on-a-true-story feel-gooder about three black women working at N.A.S.A. during the space race—with some trepidation. Not because the subject matter didn’t interest me, but because I was sure a movie like this, all bright-hued and Oscar-ready, would handle that fascinating subject with clumsy cliché .

But I was wrong to be so pessimistic—and, sure, snobby—as Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi with a script by Melfi and Allison Schroeder, turns out to be a genuinely uplifting delight, a piquant and pretty movie about three determined women. They’re played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and, in her second stand-out performance of 2016, Janelle Monáe. They have a warm, lived-in chemistry together, anchoring the film with smarts and sensibility, keeping the proceedings from getting too soft or mushy. Befitting of its story—about mathematicians Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughn, and engineer Mary Jackson— Hidden Figures has a dextrous wit to it. It’s a middle-of-the-road kind of movie, but the righteousness of its story, emboldened by the nimble script and performances, prevent it from being truly square.

Henson plays Johnson, a math prodigy who works in a pool of human computers, all of them black women, crunching numbers in the lead-up to N.A.S.A.’s first manned space mission. Johnson eventually gets plucked out of the pool and placed on a tough, high-level manager’s team, proving invaluable in calculating launch and orbit trajectories. The math and physics are complicated stuff that Melfi sorta glides over, but that’s O.K. We still get the sense of urgency and accomplishment, all the more hard-won by the myriad indignities and cruelties that Katherine is subjected to daily. Henson carries the film’s weight well, giving Katherine a bearing that’s both weary and optimistic, confident in her potential but unsure that the realities of her world will let that potential be realized. Fortunately, it was, though perhaps never with the appreciation it deserved.

Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn face similar obstacles. Mary is fighting to be allowed to attend night classes at a whites-only school so she can earn an extra degree and land her dream engineering job. Monáe gets a terrific scene when Mary has her day in court—it’s quieter and more intimate than one might expect, but it gives Monáe a chance to show us that she can speechify with the best of them. Spencer—playing Dorothy, who is working to prevent her and her staff’s obsolescence by teaching herself how to use N.A.S.A.’s giant new computer—does something more familiar, but Hidden Figures is a strong vehicle for those talents. She also squares off nicely, if gently, with Kirsten Dunst’s cool and imperious manager—she’s not a racist caricature, but rather a more nuanced example of how white supremacy manifested, and does still manifest, in otherwise “decent” people and institutions.

Henson does most of her scenes with a cadre of men, including a great Kevin Costner as Katherine’s stern but compassionate boss, and Jim Parsons as a jealous former favorite child of the team. And she has some sweet scenes of romance with Mahershala Ali, an actor finishing out a great year with this charming, easygoing turn. He doesn’t do anything flashy; he’s just nice to watch. As is true of the rest of the film.

But that niceness shouldn’t downplay the triumph and excitement of its story. Watching these three women flourish is thrilling, a heartening testament to their courage and intellect. But Hidden Figures is careful not to put the onus of transcending oppression on those who are being oppressed. It revels in its heroes’ successes, but not in a condescending, “see, you can beat racism if you just ingratiate yourself to enough white people” sort of way. There’s a frustration animate in Hidden Figures, one that doesn’t let Dunst’s character off the hook even if she’s polite to Dorothy by the end. This isn’t a white-people-learning-lessons movie—it’s about the amazing things three black women did within a system that was, and still is, rigged against them.

In that way, Hidden Figures feels entirely appropriate for this moment, something of a ray of hope in dark times. I suppose from one angle that sense of hope could be seen as false, something crassly produced to provide an empty kind of comfort. But I don’t think the film merits that cynicism. The movie is earnest and straightforward, but it’s not guileless. And it has genuine art to it, especially in Mandy Walker’s lovely cinematography. This is a movie made with care, not a sloppy, slapdash pile of corny sentiment. It’s a feel-good movie that actually, well, feels good.

__Video: Janelle Monáe Talks about the American Heroes of . . . __

Richard Lawson

Chief critic.

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

• DVD & Streaming

Hidden Figures

Content caution.

In Theaters

• January 6, 2017
• Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson; Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan; Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson; Kevin Costner as Al Harrison; Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell; Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford; Mahershala Ali as Col. Jim Johnson; Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson; Glen Powell as John Glenn

Home Release Date

• April 11, 2017
• Theodore Melfi

Distributor

• 20th Century Fox

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

Rockets just don’t get to the moon by themselves. No, it takes men! Men to build them, men to fly them, men to plot their complicated trajectories! White men! Men with ties , preferably skinny ones! (The ties, not the men.)

Or so the thinking went back in 1961, back when America’s Mercury space program was just getting off the ground.

Sure, there were folks besides men hard at work within the bowels of NASA’s brain trust, located at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. And when the car carrying three NASA employees breaks down along the side of the road—black, female employees—they set right the Virginia policeman who stops to help them.

“I had no idea they hired …”

“There are quite a few women working in the space program,” says Dorothy Vaughan, giving him an ever-so-veiled stink eye.

But even though NASA seems to be building a new, rocket-powered future, its nuts-and-bolts operations are still a product of 1961. Langley’s still in a Southern, segregated state. Dorothy and her fellow black, female carpoolers, Mary Jackson and Katherine Goble, work at Langley’s West Campus, where the “colored people” are kept. They and others do important work: They’re the computers before the computer age, women who calculate and crunch the numbers that are so critical to the space program’s future. But these computers are kept apart from the rest. They have their own bathrooms, their own cafeterias, their own coffee machines. Integration is not, it would seem, part of NASA’s future any more than it is Virginia’s.

Sometimes, however, talent and determination have a way of making their own futures. America’s fledgling space program—which is locked in a battle with the U.S.S.R. that its surely losing—can use all the brilliant minds it can find. And some of those minds might just be working out of the West Campus, using the bathrooms labeled “Colored Women Only.”

Positive Elements

We’ve seen all manner of dramas addressing America’s long history of racial inequity, from 2014’s underrated Selma to 2016’s controversial and bloody Birth of a Nation . Hidden Figures tackles the same themes. But these women—whose characters as depicted here are based on three very real NASA employees—don’t take up arms or march in protests. Instead, they fight the status quo within the very system that’s pressing them down, pushing back with their skill, talent and flat-out determination.

Hidden Figures is, perhaps, Katherine’s story most of all. She’s called to work in Langley’s formidable nerve center because of her prodigious talent for math. But even though she can outthink most—if not all—of the men in this NASA think tank, she still finds herself sprinting a half a mile to the West Campus in order to use the designated bathroom and making her own coffee in a pot labeled “Colored.”

As she works through these conditions with grace and spirit, though, things begin to change. People see her work and marvel at it. She presses for recognition and, in slow steps, begins to receive it. It’s gratifying to know that that real Katherine—still living and a spry 98, by the way—was an integral part of NASA until her retirement in 1986, working on everything from the Apollo program to the space shuttle. A building at Langley, the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility, was named in her honor just last year.

There are others who help these women along the way. Al Harrison, head of the division working to calculate how to get the Mercury astronauts into space, seems almost oblivious to race. His only concern is getting the best minds to work on a common problem. When he learns that Katherine has to run between conferences to simply use the restroom, he integrates the restrooms by pulling down the “colored” sign with a crowbar.

“No more white restrooms,” he says. “No more colored restrooms. Just toilets.”

Elsewhere, scientist Karl Zielinski encourages Mary to get an engineering degree. When Mary protests that she’s a “negro woman,” he counters, “I’m a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. I think we can say we are living the impossible.”

John Glenn, one of Mercury’s astronauts, goes out of his way to meet and thank Katherine, Mary, Dorothy and other minority “computers” for their work. And when a real, automated computer spits out contradictory information right before a launch, Glenn demands that Katherine check those numbers personally—trusting her and only her to come up with the right figures. “It’s a little hard to trust something you can’t look in the eyes,” he explains.

We should also note that Dorothy and Katherine are parents as well, with Katherine raising three children on her own after her husband’s death. Both clearly care a great deal for their kids, even if they’re not home as often as they’d like to be.

Spiritual Elements

Christianity means something to the three women at the center of this story. All three go to the same church, and the pastor praises their work from the pulpit. Katherine and her family say a blessing before dinner. And when she tells her kids that she misses their father “as much as anyone,” they tell her they know he’s “with the angels.”

Good news is sometimes punctuated with a quick praise to the Almighty. When Mary gets a plum assignment, for instance, she grabs the assignment sheet and says, “Thank you, Jesus!” When a police officer volunteers to escort them to work, Mary accepts with alacrity. The fact that three black women are “chasing” a policeman through rural Virginia, she says, is a “God-ordained miracle.”

When Mr. Harrison calls for renewed dedication from the scientists in his charge, he says, “Let’s have an amen , d–mit.”

Sexual & Romantic Content

Widowed Katherine attracts the notice of a suitor, Col. Jim Johnson. The two begin having dinner together at Katherine’s house. One night while they do dishes, Jim announces that it’s about time they kissed. They do, fairly passionately. Later, at another family dinner, Jim proposes. In a postscript to the film, we learn they’ve been married for 56 years.

Mary is also married, and she and her husband kiss (with Mary protesting to hubby Levi that he’s going to make her late for class if they’re not careful). That doesn’t keep her from eyeing Mercury’s astronauts when they visit Langley. “How can you possibly ogle these white men?” Katherine scolds. Mary tells her that she has every right to look.

Someone quips about how learning to dance can lead to winning a man’s affection.

Violent Content

We see old footage of rockets blowing up, and we hear news reports of a bomb being thrown into a freedom bus. Something goes wrong during a critical space mission, and there’s some concern the manned capsule will burn up on re-entry.

Al Harrison violently rips off a bathroom sign, sending it crashing to the ground. In a test, heat shields from a dummy space capsule fly off, banging into a shatter-proof window.

Crude or Profane Language

Nearly 15 uses of “d–n.” “H—” is also uttered about half a dozen times, and God’s and Jesus’ name are both misused—the latter emphatically—once.

Drug & Alcohol Content

Dorothy, Mary and Katherine hang out at Dorothy’s house one afternoon, and Dorothy serves up an alcoholic beverage of some sort. Mary says she could use a good drink; she enjoys it a bit too much. She says she feels as good as she’s ever been, and Dorothy counters, “You’re as drunk as you’ve ever been.”

Other Noteworthy Elements

Dorothy goes to the library to check out a book or two on computer programming—the “future,” as she says. But when she shows up, she’s told that those books aren’t in “her” section (meaning, of course, the books for blacks). But later on the bus (where she and her two accompanying children are sitting, of course, in the back), she pulls out a book she apparently took from the library without checking it out. When her son calls her on it, she rationalizes, “Son, I pay taxes. And taxes paid for everything in that library. You can’t take something you’ve already paid for.”

We see Katherine’s ankles and skirt underneath a bathroom stall as she does work there. When Al rips down the bathroom sign, he says, “Here at NASA, we all pee the same color.”

And, obviously, racism—both overt and covert—is an essential elements of the storyline.

When Mary begins talking about her ambitions of becoming an engineer, her husband, Levi, thinks she’s delusional.

“Freedom is never granted to the oppressed,” he blusters. “It’s got to be demanded. Taken.”

“There’s more than one way to achieve something,” she says.

And, sometimes, indeed there is.

Hidden Figures is an inspirational exercise in understated activism. The women here do not ignore the racism that colors their lives. But they resist it not with violence or protest but with skill and persistence. Yes, they ask for the rights that are rightfully theirs. But they do so with a sense of grace, humility and patience. They don’t trust the system. But they find away to work within it to achieve their goals. And they change a lot of minds along the way.

One afternoon, Dorothy and her supervisor, Mrs. Mitchell, run into each other in the bathroom—a meeting that would’ve been impossible before Al Harrison ripped down that sign.

“You know, Dorothy,” Mrs. Mitchell says, “Despite what you think, I have nothing against y’all.”

“I know,” Dorothy says with a gentle smile. “I know you probably believe that.” And she walks out.

It’s a moment of searing self-realization, perhaps. For when the two meet again, Mrs. Mitchell hands her a new assignment: an overdue promotion that Dorothy had been fighting for throughout the movie.

Dorothy’s surprised, but keeps it under wraps. “Thank you for the information, Mrs. Mitchell,” she says.

“You’re quite welcome … Mrs. Vaughn.”

It’s a beautifully understated sign of respect, that switch from Dorothy to Mrs. Vaughn , more important than the promotion itself. It’s a measure of newfound equality. And in a way, for all its subtlety, it feels like the movie’s greatest moment of triumph.

Hidden Figures inspires as it entertains. It acknowledges racial divisions while insisting that there’s more than one way to fix them. And while it can be crass, its heart is good.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Latest Reviews

The Wild Robot

Faith of Angels

Megalopolis

Weekly reviews straight to your inbox.

Want to stay Plugged In?

Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family , that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!