Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
Not only does this lowest-common denominator conclusion backfire, it insults anyone who invested their time getting involved in the whole thing.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Losing Isaiah transcends the custody issue and finds drama in the black-white polarities that neither character can escape.
– Edward Guthmann,
San Francisco Chronicle,
18 Jun 2002
fresh:
This drama about interracial adoption is serious and affecting, thanks in large part to the presence of its two magnetic stars.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
rotten:
This is an absorbing and involving picture, but the terms propounded here limit the story, which depends almost entirely on emotions rather than on thought.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
3 Sep 2008
rotten:
The material is emotionally wrenching, but the actors play sociopolitical totems more than flesh-and-blood characters.