The film tells the story of a doctor's extraordinary work in the Sixties with a group of catatonic patients he finds languishing in a Bronx hospital. Under his painstaking guidance, they begin responding to certain stimuli. He is then given permission to test a new drug on one of his patients.
Tour-de-force performances and one memorable storyline
Quickflix
August 17, 2014
a curiously-underloved film... Awakenings will get a re-evaluation in the wake of Williams' passing, and that's great. It's just a tragedy it took a tragedy to precipitate it.
Solid medical drama. Williams is terrific in a straight role.
EmanuelLevy.Com
February 01, 2007
A potentially intriguing story, based on the actual experiences of Dr. Sacks, gets a characteristically middling, sentimental and uplifting from director Penny Marshall.
Moving and over-sentimental - but Marshall's best film.
Common Sense Media
December 22, 2010
Nonfunny Robin Williams role in moving story.
FulvueDrive-in.com
July 05, 2007
A beautifully moving, life-affirming true story.
Needcoffee.com
May 20, 2003
Moving and well-acted.
Nick's Flick Picks
November 02, 2004
I remember this film, which I saw 13 years ago, as a squishy article redeemed by two strong performances; I am not inclined to go back for a second opinion.
The New Republic
August 15, 2014
Williams gives his best "straight" performance, shorn of all his marvelous manic vaudeville. The man he plays here is not a performer, which he was even in Dead Poets Society, but simply a man.
