Philadelphia is a heartbreakingly mediocre movie. It’s dishonest, it’s often legally, medically, and politically inaccurate, and it breaks my heart that I must say it’s simply not good enough and I’d rather people not see it at all.

Philadelphia may not be the film Demme's fans expect--its emotionalism is unfiltered by cool. But it has the power to open more than a few blinkered hearts.

[An] extremely well-made message picture about tolerance, justice and discrimination is pitched at mainstream audiences, befitting its position as the first major Hollywood film to directly tackle the disease.

Demme's well-intentioned character study meets courtroom activist drama is over-directed and borders on offensive at times. Of the two leads, Washington should have gotten the awards attention