Philadelphia
The first big-studio AIDS film. Careful, compromised, and it worked.
Made for straight audiences of 1993 — and it moved them, which was the job.
- 1993
- 126 min
- 81% on Rotten Tomatoes
- 7.7 on IMDb
- #nostalgic
- #drama
Our take
Tom Hanks won an Oscar playing a lawyer fired for having AIDS, and Denzel Washington plays the homophobic attorney who takes the case and slowly stops being one. It is a courtroom film with the edges filed off, and queer critics said so at the time: the couple barely touch, the camera keeps its distance, the audience it is speaking to is plainly not us.
All true, and it still mattered. This was the first time a major studio asked mainstream America to sit with a dying gay man and feel something, and enough of them did that the culture moved. Watch it as history rather than as romance, and the Maria Callas scene will still take you apart.
Where to watch Philadelphia
Stream
Hulu
Rent
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Buy
- Amazon Video
- Apple TV Store
- Google Play Movies
- YouTube
- Fandango At Home
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Scores
Ours
- Jibbi Score — 4 out of 5 rainbows. Made for straight audiences of 1993 — and it moved them, which was the job.
Everyone else’s
- Rotten Tomatoes — 81%, via OMDb.
- IMDb — 7.7 out of 10 from 272,691 votes, via OMDb.
- Metacritic — 66 out of 100, via OMDb.
- TMDB — 7.7 out of 10 from 4,701 votes, refreshed daily.
The plot, officially
Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.
Synopsis and poster via TMDB.