{"id":14657,"date":"2026-06-27T14:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14657"},"modified":"2026-06-27T14:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:14:12","slug":"young-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/06\/27\/young-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Young Washington<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Angel\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 125 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of strong war violence, some bloody images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jon Erwin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jon Erwin, Tom Provost and Diederik Hoogstraten\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Benjamin Botkin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kristopher Kimlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 3, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: William Franklyn-Miller, Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, Andy Serkis, Ben Kingsley, Joel Smallbone, Mia Rodgers, Ryan Begay, Jonno Davies, John Foss.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0In a season typically defined by cinematic no-brainers, Young Washington<\/strong> is a history lesson. It\u2019s brought to you by Angel Studios, the outfit primarily known for \u201cvalue-based\u201d entertainment- i.e. films with religious or patriotic themes. Although God (or \u201cProvidence\u201d) is mentioned a few times, it fits more in the latter category. It is, after all, about the man who laid the groundwork for the founding of America in 1776. It\u2019s no coincidence that it\u2019s coming out just in time for our country\u2019s 250th<\/sup> birthday (aka the Semiquincentennial).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Jon Erwin, not working with big brother Andrew this time out, Young Washington<\/strong> is just as the title promises. It\u2019s the story of young George Washington before the Revolutionary War and before he became our country\u2019s first President. William Franklyn-Miller (of the Chicken Girls series) plays twenty-something George, a brash and ambitious young man (and tenant farmer) looking for a way in to high society. His dream is to become an officer in the British Army even though he\u2019s been told repeatedly since childhood that it\u2019s impossible. His station in life is his station in life; there\u2019s no changing it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0George sees a way in when he crashes a party at the Fairfax mansion. That\u2019s where he meets and becomes smitten with Sally (Rodgers, The Sex Lives of College Girls) who admires his audacity in showing up uninvited. He offers his services as a surveyor to Thomas (Grammer, Jesus Revolution) who wants to know more about neighboring Ohio Territory. The older man accepts and George heads off to map out the unknown terrain. While there, he encounters Seneca tribal leader Tanaghrisson (Begay) who leads him to a French outpost. They plan to take over the land from the British.<\/p>\n

\u00a0George returns to Virginia to report his findings to the governor (Kingsley, Gandhi). He volunteers his services as a militia leader. He leads an army back to the French outpost to deliver a message. They\u2019re to leave or face the wrath of the British military. I think you know how that plays out. If not, you better brush up on your history.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m no expert so I can\u2019t speak to the historical accuracy of Young Washington<\/strong> although I\u2019m pretty sure he didn\u2019t turn into the colonial version of Rambo while fighting in the Battle of the Monongahela. It\u2019s cool to watch, especially the bit where he hangs on the side of his horse while evading musket fire, but not believable for a second. If there are any historians reading this review, I\u2019d like your input. How much did the movie get wrong?<\/p>\n

\u00a0All things considered, I enjoyed Young Washington<\/strong>. It\u2019s an interesting film. GW\u2019s early life isn\u2019t often talked about. You don\u2019t hear much about what came before Valley Forge, the Delaware River and his political career. Okay, there is that story about the cherry tree and it\u2019s alluded to here. The movie also goes into his relationship with his mother Mary (Parker, Fried Green Tomatoes) and half-brother Lawrence (Foss, The Life of Jesus Christ) who stepped up after the death of George\u2019s father. It was Lawrence who educated him after the local school turned him away for not coming from a wealthy family. It also goes into George\u2019s determination to change his station in life and the blow to his ego after a devastating defeat in a battle with French soldiers. It\u2019s cliched, but still interesting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Young Washington<\/strong> isn\u2019t without a few problems. It\u2019s slow in parts and some of the casting feels off. Don\u2019t get me wrong, the acting is decent, but it\u2019s a little hard to see Frasier Crane decked out in a powdered wig and 18th<\/sup> century gear. Miller does a fine job in the lead role even when the script makes questionable choices. Kingsley is always good. Parker is good as the tough love mom who doesn\u2019t want to lose her son.<\/p>\n

\u00a0On the plus side, the artistic merits of Young Washington <\/strong>are solid. The sets and costume design are right on point. The battle scenes are well executed. It\u2019s nice to look at. It helps that the drama hits like it should. Erwin gets you invested in GW and the personal struggles he had to overcome on his journey to greatness. That\u2019s what a movie is supposed to do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I know a lot of people will avoid Young Washington<\/strong> because it an Angel Studios film. That would be unfair. It\u2019s really not a bad movie. Yes, as per usual, the end credits come with a plea for donations for families who can\u2019t afford a trip to the movies. I still think it\u2019s shameless, but it seems to be working. Eh, whatever.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young Washington (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Angel\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 125 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of strong war violence, some bloody images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jon Erwin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jon Erwin, Tom Provost and Diederik Hoogstraten\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Benjamin Botkin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kristopher Kimlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 3, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: William Franklyn-Miller, Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, Andy Serkis, Ben Kingsley, Joel Smallbone, Mia Rodgers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-now-playing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Young-Washington-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14676,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14657\/revisions\/14676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}