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Borstal Boy
Strand Releasing

Borstal Boy reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 47 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.2 out of 10
based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA 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)


GENRE(S): Foreign  
WRITTEN BY: Nye Heron
Peter Sheridan
Brendan Behan (book)
 
DIRECTED BY: Peter Sheridan  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: October 15, 2002 
Video: October 15, 2002 
Theatrical: March 1, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Ireland / UK 

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.
Read Full Review
70
LA Weekly John Patterson
Overall Sheridan keeps both "Oirishry" and sentimentality in check. He captures the book's evenhanded sense.
Read Full Review
70
Film Threat Michael Dequina
Forces a self-examination that is both traumantic and revealing.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
63
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
An important and interesting story, but the reform school itself never seems terribly harsh.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
58
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A quaint, romanticized rendering.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
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."
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
My problem with Borstal Boy isn't so much with the facts as with the tone.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
As drama it feels forced and highly conventional.
Read Full Review
38
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Somewhere along the way, Borstal Boy became fatally compromised.
Read Full Review
30
Variety Derek Elley
Mixes a rites-of-passage story with political and sexual elements to solid but finally uninvolving results.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review
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.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!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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