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Borstal Boy

EMAILPRINTStrand Releasing

Borstal Boy reviews
47
9.2 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Foreign

Written by: Nye Heron
Peter Sheridan
Brendan Behan (book)

Directed by: Peter Sheridan

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 1, 2002
DVD: October 15, 2002

Running Time: 91 minutes, Color

Origin: Ireland / UK

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Shawn Hatosy, Danny Dyer, Michael York, Lee Ingleby, Robin Laing, Mark Huberman, and Eva Birthistle

An Irish film based on the memoirs of noted author and raconteur Brendan Behan. (Strand Releasing)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

But if the film flirts with being sentimental, it never completely gives in: The inherent strength of the material as well as the integrity of the filmmakers gives this coming-of-age story restraint as well as warmth.

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70

LA Weekly John Patterson

Overall Sheridan keeps both "Oirishry" and sentimentality in check. He captures the book's evenhanded sense.

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70

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Forces a self-examination that is both traumantic and revealing.

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70

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A likable rites-of-passage memory piece doused in period nostalgia, including the prominent use of vintage Movietone newsreels to mark the events of World War II.

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70

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Shows an unusual degree of generosity toward all its characters, and its tenderness yields some affecting moments, even if they don't ring entirely true.

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63

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

An important and interesting story, but the reform school itself never seems terribly harsh.

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60

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

While the movie tries to make the connection between the rough but sensitive lad we see on screen and the notorious carouser of later years, there's little here to suggest whatever torment led Behan to drunkenness and an absurdly early death at 41.

58

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Though exploring, among other things, fallibility, homosexuality, injustice and loss, the picture seems afraid to really make any kind of strong statement, whether political or psychological.

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58

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A quaint, romanticized rendering.

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50

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The film's intimations of bisexual romance have a certain innate drama that no amount of bad acting or cornball rugby matches can completely erase.

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50

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's really a crock: a coming-of-age boys' prison film that has only a fanciful link with Behan's life. The film is a bastard grandchild of Tony Richardson's 1962 "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner."

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50

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The film moves briskly enough to be entertaining, but it can't escape the smothering hero worship that Sheridan infuses into every frame.

50

TV Guide Ken Fox

Given the serious subject matter, this adaptation of Irish writer Brendan Behan's autobiographical novel is surprisingly light and exceedingly good-natured.

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50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

My problem with Borstal Boy isn't so much with the facts as with the tone.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The result is a film that will probably please people already fascinated by Behan but leave everyone else yawning with admiration.

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40

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

For all its triteness, Sheridan's sentimentality has its poignancy: This adolescent boy is all set up to live out a halcyon life he'll never have.

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40

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

As drama it feels forced and highly conventional.

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38

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Somewhere along the way, Borstal Boy became fatally compromised.

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30

Variety Derek Elley

Mixes a rites-of-passage story with political and sexual elements to solid but finally uninvolving results.

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30

Chicago Reader Ted Shen

The direction is so muted and sentimental and the pacing so soporific that only Ciarian Tanham's saturated color cinematography of the sylvan countryside breaks the monotony.

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10

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Sheridan seems terrified of the book's irreverent energy, and scotches most of its élan, humor, bile, and irony. What's left wouldn't have substantiated a memoir of any reputation, much less a movie.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

The Critic gave it a4:
While I'm a fan of the author.......I wouldn't have been such a fan if I saw this first. I'm afraid this movie is very very bland.

Jason S. gave it a 10:
This movie was amazing. It covered all the basics and envoked emotions in the viewers. Very well done!

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