Straight Outta Compton (2015)
92%RT Audience Score: 91%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
28 wins & 40 nominations total
Straight Outta Compton is a biopic that’s built to last, thanks to F. Gary Gray’s confident direction and engaging performances from a solid cast.
Straight Outta Compton is the perfect movie for anyone who loves hip-hop, drama, and a good story. It’s got everything you could want in a biopic – great performances, amazing music, and a real sense of history. Sure, it’s not perfect, but what movie is? If you’re looking for a fun, entertaining, and informative movie about one of the most important groups in hip-hop history, then you can’t go wrong with Straight Outta Compton. So put on your headphones, turn up the volume, and get ready to be transported back to the birthplace of gangsta rap.
Production Company(ies)
First Thought Films,
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
Filming Location(s)
Los Angeles, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language throughout, strong sexuality/nudity, violence, and drug use
Year of Release
2015
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:2h 27m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 14, 2015 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 19, 2016
Genre(s)
Biography/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, Marlon Yates Jr., directed by F Gary Gray, written by Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, biography, drama, music, R rating, Ice Cube, Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez, Scott Bernstein, Dr Dre, box office performance, $161.0M, reviewed by Nijla Mu’min, Aramide Tinubu, Dwight Brown, Max Weiss, Jason Bailey, Danny Leigh, Brian Eggert, Phil Hebblethwaite, MPAA rating, Universal Pictures, SDDS, Datasat, Dolby Digital, Scope (2.35:1), N.W.A, hip-hop, Southern Los Angeles, Jerry Heller, Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren, controversy, brutal honesty, fame, fortune, history, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, vibrancy, pain, contradictions, hip-hop culture, gangsta rap, life in the ‘hood, FCC, Rodney King-era L.A, The Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Death Row Productions, Shug Knight, Marc Rose, Keith Stanfield, R.Marcos Taylor, Paul Giamatti, freedom of speech, influence, aspirations, re-watchability
Worldwide gross: $201,634,991
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $251,694,578
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 579
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 27,447,609
US/Canada gross: $161,197,785
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $201,218,094
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 346
US/Canada opening weekend: $60,200,180
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $75,145,980
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 122
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $28,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $34,951,514
Production budget ranking: 1,058
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $18,821,390
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $197,921,674
ROI to date (est.): 368%
ROI ranking: 371
Corey Hawkins – Dr. Dre
Jason Mitchell – Eazy-E
Neil Brown Jr. – DJ Yella
Aldis Hodge – MC Ren
Marlon Yates Jr. – The D.O.C.
Director(s)
F. Gary Gray
Writer(s)
Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff
Producer(s)
Ice Cube, Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez, F. Gary Gray, Scott Bernstein, Dr. Dre
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
28 wins & 40 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (248) | Top Critics (71) | Fresh (220) | Rotten (28)
Through the evocative lens of cinematographer Matthew Libatique, Gray illustrates the vibrancy and pain of this moment and, for the most part, does not leave out the contradictions.
February 3, 2021
Nijla Mu’min
Bitch Media
TOP CRITIC
The film is remarkable because of how deeply it will resonate with today’s audience.
April 12, 2017
Aramide Tinubu
Shadow and Act
TOP CRITIC
This is a monster film. You will walk out feeling like you have been entertained, educated and emotionally fulfilled. Eight months into the year 2015, and this is the only perfect film that has hit the theaters. This is it.
March 15, 2017
Dwight Brown
National Newspaper Publishers Association
TOP CRITIC
The backdrop of Rodney King-era L.A and the realness and rawness of N.W.A.’s music, not to mention the passionate and heartfelt performances of the film’s three young leads gives the film an undeniable power.
June 12, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4
Max Weiss
Baltimore Magazine
TOP CRITIC
In spite of its many formal and structural flaws, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ works, because it captures a moment, and positions its music at the center of that moment.
May 27, 2016
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
The movie has inescapable verve, capturing why its subjects mean every bit as much as The Sex Pistols or Rolling Stones.
January 1, 2016 | Rating: 4/5
Danny Leigh
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
The story is epic enough that audiences will experience the significant musical and social influence N.W.A. had on the larger community of hip-hop, and how that influence continues to shape contemporary artists.
May 29, 2022 | Rating: 3/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Take Straight Outta Compton for what it is – a sanitised and over-dramatised take on one of hip-hop’s most significant groups…for the two and a half hours it rolls, however, Hollywood and Compton are just different names for exactly the same place.
April 23, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/5
Phil Hebblethwaite
NME
Straight Outta Compton is an eminently watchable movie with a point of view. Or, one could say, with an attitude.
January 14, 2021
David Bax
Battleship Pretension
One of 2015’s best adult-oriented dramas and one of the best musical biopics of recent years.
September 24, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
If the film’s aim was to show us how much of N.W.A’s core essence still remain in the music industry and society today, then it achieves that.
July 17, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Kelechi Ehenulo
Confessions From A Geek Mind
There’s enough here to satisfy the biggest fans and stir the interest of newcomers alike.
July 15, 2020 | Rating: B
Allen Almachar
The MacGuffin…
Plot
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels-armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent-stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features Ice Cube’s real-life son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., in his acting debut, playing the role of his father.
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