YMMV / Harriet

• Accidental Innuendo: When Harriet recounts how her husband remarried another woman to Marie, Marie consoles her, saying: “You’re more than any man I’ve ever met.” This is while Harriet is bathing and getting her hair fixed by Marie.
• Funny Moments: Not many, given the nature of the subject matter, but there are a few darkly funny moments:
  • While recounting her life story to William Still for his slave history, Harriet explains that her head was cracked open when she was a child. William writes down “skull fracture.” Then she gives an impassioned speech about how God talks to her through the space in her head and lets her see the future. William writes down “possible brain damage.”
  • Harriet's father blindfolding himself so that he can truthfully say that he hasn't seen her.
  • Harriet having one of her spells in the midst of helping some slaves escape. One of them incredulously asks if they're supposed to just wait for her to snap out of it while the slave catchers are on their heels.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Harriet's first escape is noted like this. She survives drowning, starvation and dehydration to make it north. The Anti-Slavery Society members are astounded because few slaves make it this far when not in groups, let alone alive. William Still has an actual Jaw Drop when taking her story down.
  • Despite being understandably upset that her husband remarried a free woman and is thus not free to go with her to the North, Harriet bounces back. She gets her siblings instead, the ones who will make the dangerous trek, and lends what would have been her husband's clothes to one of her brothers.
  • William Still is a walking moment of this. It's revealed he's a member of the Underground Railroad and conductor, despite being a free wealthy black man. He takes down people's stories and helps runaways get settled with food, places to stay, and jobs. We also see that Good Is Not Soft; when Gideon and Bigger attempt to fire at Harriet, he gets her out of the line of fire as the Anti-Slavery Society defends her with their own rifles. His Death Glare and protective gestures certainly help.
• Narm:
  • There was reportedly a screening where several viewers started laughing at the awkward expression Harriet makes once she's successfully escaped slavery.
  • The way Harriet takes aim with a rifle has been lampooned as her looking like she has no idea what she's doing with it.
• Never Live It Down: Gideon's action he did in the near epilogue of the biopic has plenty of people that hated it accuse him of being a white savior, even though the only reason why he shot Bigger Long directly in the noggin is because he only wants the satisfaction of ending Harriet's life on his own and believing he's the only person allowed to do so.
• No Yay: Gideon is clearly implied to have twisted romantic feelings towards Harriet besides viewing her as nothing more than a possession that he's the only one that's allowed to treat her however he pleases including up to killing her himself. No wonder why Harriet is heavily repulsed by him and would do anything to remain a freed woman for the remainders of her life...
• One-Scene Wonder: Frederick Douglass during the Canadian meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society. He gives an empowering speech about how they can't just sit idly by and hope that war doesn't happen. Instead, everyone should prepare to fight. Harriet seems to agree with him.
• Overshadowed by Controversy:
  • A slight case, as there was some backlash over the casting of a British actress as Harriet rather than an American one, especially one who some felt had made some rather disparaging comments about African-Americans.
  • After its release, Kasi Lemmons revealed that at one point in the decades it took to get a studio to make the film, an executive said he'd do it... if Julia Roberts played Tubman, claiming it was so long ago that no one would know the real Tubman was black. This naturally became a major figurehead for the issue of offensive Race Lift casting which had become far more publicly acknowledged in recent years.
• Questionable Casting: British Cynthia Erivo playing Harriet Tubman received several complaints given her past tweets which were seen as having a racist view of African-Americans. While critics generally praised her work, audiences were more split.
• So Okay, It's Average: Most just saw it as another generic biopic with little to impress or offend.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A lot of people were incredibly disappointed that Harriet Tubman's actions she's done as spy for the Civil War hadn't been shown onscreen. Instead, the film just writes texts talking about it.