Poster © Universal Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreBiography, Comedy & Drama
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 10 mins
ReleasedNovember 16, 2018
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorPeter Farrelly
StarringViggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
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Green Book (2018)
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| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Green Book's Details | |
| Genre | Biography, Comedy & Drama |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 09/11/2018 (TIFF); 11/16/2018 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 10 mins |
| Budget | $23M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Green Book's Interests | |
| General | Cadillacs, concert halls, road maps, letters home, the Green Book itself, a Christmas Eve deadline. |
| Music | Kris Bowers, who also performed Don Shirley's piano parts for the film. |
| Movies | Hidden Figures (2016). Another true story of brilliance pushing through the segregated 1960s. |
| Television | Lovecraft Country. A road trip through 1950s America, with its own version of the travel guide. |
| Heroes | Don Shirley. Walked onstage every night and played with total control. |
| Green Book's Crew | |
| Director | Peter Farrelly |
| Writers | Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly |
| Producers | Jim Burke, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Charles B. Wessler |
| Cinematography | Sean Porter |
| Music | Kris Bowers |
| Edited By | Patrick J. Don Vito |
| Production | Participant Media, DreamWorks Pictures, Innisfree Pictures, Cinetic Media |
| Distributed By | Universal Pictures |
Don Shirley is the most interesting person in Green Book, and the movie keeps handing the steering wheel back to Tony. That’s the honest problem. Mahershala Ali plays Shirley with so much control and loneliness that every scene he’s in feels like the better film, but the story is built around Tony learning to be decent, and it hurries past what Shirley faced on that tour to get to a warm hug. Viggo Mortensen is fun as Tony, a loud Bronx guy who folds an entire pizza in half and eats it like a sandwich. The two of them in the front seat are great company. The scenes of the segregated South are real and uncomfortable, and they’re the strongest part, even if the film resolves them too neatly. Audiences loved it: an A+ CinemaScore and $321.8 million worldwide. A 6.4 because the chemistry is real and the point of view is pointed the wrong way. $38 says Don Shirley’s real recordings end up on your playlist before the week is out.
What works: Mahershala Ali’s precise, lonely performance and the easy front-seat chemistry between him and Viggo Mortensen.
What doesn’t: It centers Tony’s growth over Don Shirley’s experience, and it smooths the racism of the era into lessons that resolve too neatly.
Who it’s for: People who want a warm, easygoing road movie, ideally followed by reading more about the real Don Shirley.
Spoilers
Tony makes it home by Christmas Eve through a snowstorm, with Don taking the wheel for the last stretch while Tony sleeps. Later that night Don shows up at the Vallelonga family’s door with a bottle in hand, and Dolores thanks him for helping with Tony’s letters.
It's 1962, the Copacabana is closed for renovations, and Bronx bouncer Tony Vallelonga, better known as Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), needs work. The job on offer: driving Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a brilliant Black pianist, on a concert tour through the Midwest and the Deep South, where segregation is still the law. Tony is loud and blunt. Don is precise and formal. They have eight weeks in one car and a promise to Tony's wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini) to be home by Christmas Eve. For the road, the label gives Tony the Green Book, the travel guide that lists where Black travelers could safely stay. Peter Farrelly directs. One hundred thirty minutes, one long drive.
Anyone heading home for the holidays who doesn't mind a long drive and a lot of conversation.
| Viggo Mortensen | Tony "Lip" Vallelonga |
| Mahershala Ali | Don Shirley |
| Linda Cardellini | Dolores Venere |
| Sebastian Maniscalco | Johnny Venere |
| Dimiter D. Marinov | Oleg Malacovich |
| Mike Hatton | George Dyer |
| Von Lewis | Bobby Rydell |
| Brian Stepanek | Graham Kindell |
| Joseph Cortese | Gio Loscudo |
| Iqbal Theba | Amit |
| P. J. Byrne | Record Exec |
| Tom Virtue | Morgan Anderson |
| Don Stark | Jules Podell |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +520 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $321.8M; Domestic box office $85.1M; Opening weekend $320K; Profit / loss (est.) +$126.4M; Rotten Tomatoes 77%; CinemaScore A+; box office chart updated; RT 77% (362 reviews); Metacritic 69 / 100; PostTrak audience 91% positive; CinemaScore A+; IMDb users 8.2 / 10 (707,948 votes); movie.guru score 8.3.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.