Andra Day is excellent as the jazz singer struggling to survive in a hostile world — but the film around her can’t decide exactly what story about Billie Holiday it wants to tell.

Ben Travis

Empire

Andra Day looks and sounds like every inch the movie star in the performance numbers and when Billie enjoys rare moments of peace and happiness offstage — and she is equally, heartbreakingly believable as Billie’s appearance deteriorates and her soul is crushed by years of drug abuse, and a lifetime of being physically and emotionally battered by a series of men who looked at this amazing, glorious, singular star and saw little more than a cash register.

Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

For all its abundant flaws, The United States vs Billie Holiday is clearly the work of a man with hot celluloid running through his lymphatic system. I guess that is a compliment.