YMMV / Fences

• Award Snub: Denzel Washington not winning the Best Actor Academy Award. While most critics had Casey Affleck pegged for the win, they also agreed that Washington was a strong contender, especially having won the SAG (often a strong indicator) a few weeks before.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: One of the biggest criticisms of the movie is that while it's admirable how close it sticks to August Wilson's original text, it doesn't make for a cinematic story, with the execution being accused of feeling like a filmed production of the stage play.
• Jerkass Woobie: Troy is a textbook example. The guy's been chewed up and spit out by life, having grown up with a near-murderous father and lived the angst of turn-of-the-century racism, and while he clearly works to provide for his family, the fear it's instilled in him makes him bitter, possessive and selfish. This is even more present in the 2010 revival, thanks to Denzel Washington's less intimidating and semi-comedic performance.
• Misaimed Fandom: The Signature Scene where Troy tells his son he doesn't have to "like" him has many fans who think that Troy is a properly old school and tough father who is raising a son who won't be "soft". Nevermind that in the context of the play, it's clear that although Troy tries to convey a life lesson to Cory in his speech, the way he goes about it and his inability to show any affection or weakness towards his son only alienates him. This combined with Troy deliberately sabotaging Cory's chance to go to college through football due to his own insecurities ultimately drives a wedge between them that lasts until Troy's death, with Cory initially planning to not go to his funeral. It's clear that Troy does love his son, but is too proud to show any real affection towards him, and his coldness is not supposed to be cool or manly.
• Narm: The scene that Rose calls out Troy is a heart-wrenching powerhouse performance by Viola Davis. Shame that she spends the whole scene with her upper lip covered in snot. For some that actually made the scene feel more real and powerful, but others just can't get past how she didn't even bother to wipe.
• Signature Scene: The famous "you ain't never liked me" scene, either James Earl Jones' chilling performance or Denzel Washington's gut-bustingly hilarious take. Denzel Washington took a more serious tone for the movie, more in line with James Earl Jones' performance.
• Tear Jerker: Troy's final scene, where he picks up his bat (all that he has left at this point in the play) and taunts Death, after Alberta dies, Rose becomes emotionally cold towards him, he's signed Gabriel over to the hospital, and he's just chased Cory out of their home. The focus pull on Troy as he's getting ready to swing is a chilling illustration of how much his sanity is finally beginning to slip away for good.
  Troy: I can't taste nothing. Helluljah! I can't taste nothing no more!...Come on! It's between you and me now! Come on! Anytime you want! Come on! I be ready for you...but I ain't gonna be easy.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Rose, in the scene where Cory says that he doesn't want to attend Troy's funeral, where she even goes as far as slapping him for it. This is the first time they've seen each other since Cory was beaten up and kicked out by Troy, the same man who cheated on Rose, yet she still believes that Troy deserves his son's respect. Despite Cory rightly pointing out that Troy was a toxic, selfish, cold-hearted man, Rose still claims that he tried "to do more good than bad". This is despite that almost everything Troy did in the story was shockingly selfish and cruel, and all of his so-called goodness comes off as Wants a Prize for Basic Decency, like feeding your children.
  • Troy. While he is clearly meant to be seen as a deeply flawed, at times unlikable character, the narrative still treats him as sympathetic and basically good. While Troy had a tragic background and it's hard not to see why he became the man he was, he's also so cruel and emotionally abusive that for some it can be hard to muster up any sympathy for him.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?:
  • Fences, as the title would indicate. More specifically, how they can be used: either to keep something in (which Rose metaphorically does by trying to keep the family together) or how it could be used to keep someone out (which is what Troy eventually does, isolating himself from his family by cheating on Rose and kicking Cory out of the house).
  • Troy's references to injustice towards African-American baseball players represent the injustice all black athletes faced in a time where racial integration in sports didn't exist.
• The Woobie: Cory. The poor kid is physically and emotionally abused by his father all his life, which his mother just allows, gets his chance at college taken away because Troy is insecure, and is finally kicked out after Cory has enough of Troy's bullshit. Even after Troy's death, Cory still can't get any peace or catharsis because his mother refuses to let him not go to the funeral.

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