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Li Lai

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Li Lai is the founder of Mediaversity Reviews, a website that scores TV and films on gender, racial, and LGBTQ inclusion. Onscreen representation is her passion, and she considers art inextricable from its social contexts. For this reason, she values fresh perspectives from underrepresented voices, and her TV and film reviews reflect that. Li has been previously featured in Variety, The Verge, CBC Radio, Chicago Tribune, and other outlets. She has also spoken at venues such as Adweek Europe or with the Women's Impact Network of the Producers Guild of America.

Publications:

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Moses the Black (2026) D EDIT “Moses the Black has no curiosity about its characters beyond how they fit the mold of St. Moses’ story.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Joybubbles (2026) C EDIT “Joybubbles' floaty approach makes it difficult to get invested in the film’s interesting topics of disabled excellence, counterculture, and tech history.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 28, 2026 Full Review Cookie Queens (2026) 100% A EDIT “As a parent, Cookie Queens' quiet scenes resonated, mirroring my own primordial need to stay physically connected to my 1- and 3-year-olds for as long as they’ll let me.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 28, 2026 Full Review Bedford Park (2026) 95% B+ EDIT “Bedford Park makes a lovely addition to the library of Asian American stories that interrogate our complicated histories in this country.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 25, 2026 Full Review Everybody To Kenmure Street (2026) 100% B+ EDIT “Everybody to Kenmure Street capably includes the women who were integral to the protest’s success.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 24, 2026 Full Review The Dutchman (2025) 59% C EDIT “With a preference for archetypes over character development, The Dutchman doesn't add anything new to existing conversations about being Black in America.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 2, 2026 Full Review The Mother and the Bear (2024) 90% A- EDIT “The Mother and the Bear presents a powerful look at parenthood and celebrates personal growth at any age.” – Mediaversity Reviews Dec 30, 2025 Full Review Merrily We Roll Along (2025) 95% C EDIT “The barrage of close-ups feels limiting. The viewer is cut from having any spatial awareness, and we lose the understanding of set design or actors’ blocking when scenes jump from emotive face to emotive face. ” – Mediaversity Reviews Dec 5, 2025 Full Review Nuremberg (2025) 72% D EDIT “In a sometimes cavalier movie like Nuremberg, the invocation of horrific archival footage feels misguided, even callous.” – Mediaversity Reviews Nov 10, 2025 Full Review Violent Ends (2025) 67% D EDIT “Without a single original idea, Violent Ends just doesn't hold up.” – Mediaversity Reviews Nov 3, 2025 Full Review Blue Moon (2025) 91% D EDIT “No matter how sharply Margaret Qualley plays Blue Moon’s blond bombshell, there’s no fixing a script that spends most of its time objectifying her.” – Mediaversity Reviews Oct 24, 2025 Full Review Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie (2025) 85% C+ EDIT “While the visuals lean heavily into traditional gender coding, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie avoids toxic messages.” – Mediaversity Reviews Sep 24, 2025 Full Review Adulthood (2025) 77% C- EDIT “To its credit, Adulthood does weave in disability storylines without sensationalizing them.” – Mediaversity Reviews Sep 21, 2025 Full Review Doin' It (2024) 50% B EDIT “The cultural references in Doin’ It suffer from oversimplification.” – Mediaversity Reviews Sep 17, 2025 Full Review The Sun Rises on Us All (2025) 79% A- EDIT “The Sun Rises On Us All demonstrates an intimacy with women’s experiences around healthcare and fertility, with certain moments feeling plucked from my own life.” – Mediaversity Reviews Sep 12, 2025 Full Review Meadowlarks (2025) 88% A EDIT “While Meadowlarks occasionally lapses into melodrama, it succeeds in its most important mission—elevating the stories of 60s Scoop survivors.” – Mediaversity Reviews Sep 11, 2025 Full Review Modern Whore (2025) B EDIT “Modern Whore challenges the desexualization of disabled people in mainstream narratives.” – Mediaversity Reviews Sep 10, 2025 Full Review The Bad Guys 2 (2025) 87% B EDIT “The Bad Guys 2 gives a stellar blueprint for how a franchise can tweak older material to suit today’s audiences.” – Mediaversity Reviews Aug 5, 2025 Full Review Smurfs (2025) 21% D EDIT “Is it too much to ask for a kids’ movie to skip the value judgments on food and body size?” – Mediaversity Reviews Jul 20, 2025 Full Review Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (2024) 82% B EDIT “For today’s teens and twentysomethings, who find romantic storylines overblown, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a nice option.” – Mediaversity Reviews May 30, 2025 Full Review The Wedding Banquet (2025) 86% A EDIT “The Wedding Banquet’s abundance of angst reduces the overall impact, leaving a low thrum of emotion rather than the gut punches that explode out of pent-up tension.” – Mediaversity Reviews Apr 17, 2025 Full Review The Penguin Lessons (2024) 78% C- EDIT “The Penguin Lessons comes off as well-meaning but wrong-footed.” – Mediaversity Reviews Mar 19, 2025 Full Review Heightened Scrutiny (2025) 94% B EDIT “Though Heightened Scrutiny lacks the polish of the filmmakers’ previous film, its urgency overrides that detraction.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 29, 2025 Full Review Third Act (2025) 100% B- EDIT “Third Act drifts out to sea, hinting at a wide range of topics without drilling down into any.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 28, 2025 Full Review Star Trek: Section 31 (2025) 23% D EDIT “Disability tropes strongly undercut Star Trek: Section 31’s inclusivity.” – Mediaversity Reviews Jan 23, 2025 Full Review
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