Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
39 Adventures of Power
66 Afterschool
73 Amreeka
49 Antichrist
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
71 Big Fan
65 Black Dynamite
76 Bliss
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
76 Broken Embraces
70 Bronson
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
60 Collapse
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
53 Dare
50 Defamation
67 Departures
70 Earth Days
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
88 Fantastic Mr. Fox
31 Fix
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
xx From Mexico with Love
28 Gentlemen Broncos
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Horse Boy, The
74 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
26 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
43 Little Traitor, The
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
46 Love Hurts
84 Maid, The
45 Mammoth
75 Messenger, The
55 Missing Person, The
59 More Than a Game
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
48 New York, I Love You
66 No Impact Man
26 Oh My God
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
79 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73 Red Cliff
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
65 Skin
41 Splinterheads
42 Staten Island
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
58 Storm
82 Sun, The
49 Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73 That Evening Sun
61 Trucker
49 Turning Green
83 U2 3D
45 Uncertainty
67 Visual Acoustics
32 War on Kids
67 Way We Get By, The
65 Wedding Song, The
xx White on Rice
59 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74 Woman in Berlin, A
43 Women in Trouble
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Boy A

EMAILPRINTThe Weinstein Company

Boy A reviews
75
8.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Mark O'Rowe
Jonathan Trigell (novel)

Directed by: John Crowley

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 23, 2008
DVD: October 7, 2008

Running Time: 100 minutes, Color

Origin: UK

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Shaun Evans, and Katie Lyons

BOY A is a fictional story about Jack. His involvement in the murder of another child means Jack, at 24, has spent most of his young life in juvenile prisons. Released from prison into an unrecognizable adult world, Jack is given a new name, new job, new home; a new life. But anonymity is both a blessing and a curse as Jack has to contend with not being able to tell the people he gets to know, and love, of his true past and the monstrous secret he must keep hidden. (The Weinstein Company)

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...

100

Film Threat KJ Doughton

One of the most gripping, thought provoking dramas ever to ponder crime and punishment.

Read Full Review >
90

Los Angeles Times Gary Goldstein

While the cast is uniformly superb, Garfield ("Lions for Lambs") deserves special mention for his deep, extraordinarily expressive performance.

Read Full Review >
90

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

It's beautiful. I loved it. And it broke my heart.

Read Full Review >
90

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Andrew Garfield's phenomenal performance makes room for the many and various pieces of Jack's personality, whether or not they're securely fastened together.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Mullen and Garfield anchor the film. Mullen, that splendid Scottish actor ("My Name Is Joe") and Garfield, 24, with his boyish face and friendly grin.

Read Full Review >
83

Portland Oregonian Stan Hall

That the audience is forced to examine its own assumptions about the situation is the result of an extraordinary, moving performance by Andrew Garfield.

Read Full Review >
80

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A compelling, compact melodrama that packs an emotional wallop. It's my nominee for sleeper surprise of the summer, at least so far.

Read Full Review >
80

NPR Bob Mondello

Jack, as played by Andrew Garfield, comes across as agonized, desperately anxious to get things right -- something you might also say about the filmmakers, who have turned Boy A's very particular story into a scary, universal and wrenching social statement.

Read Full Review >
80

Village Voice Ernest Hardy

The film's both smart and devastating as it unthreads interwoven questions about redemption, justice, and the pivotal role of history in shaping an individual and his actions.

Read Full Review >
80

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Mr. Garfield's performance makes Jack so endearing and vulnerable that as he takes his first wobbly steps, like a baby bird shoved from its nest, your instincts are protective.

Read Full Review >
80

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The movie is taut with suspense but culminates in wise resignation as the hero comes to understand he's running from a part of himself.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Boy A will rivet you while raising issues about forgiveness and just who deserves it.

Read Full Review >
75

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

For all Crowley's reliance on quiet naturalism, Boy A ultimately steals a page from film noir, showing how guilt and constant hounding can turn any ex-con into the desperate animal everyone presumes him to be.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Like "Control," the recent Anton Corbijn treatment of rock star Ian Curtis' short life, the powerful British drama Boy A announces its gravitas with a look--organically achieved, with cinematography, production design and direction working together--you are meant to notice.

Read Full Review >
75

TV Guide Ken Fox

Director John Crowley and screenwriter Mark O'Rowe's follow-up to their feature film debut "Intermission" may follow an all-too schematic flashback structure, but the film is too brilliantly acted for that to really matter much.

Read Full Review >
75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee

Even its structurally weaker moments give Garfield an opportunity to expand on Jack's physical and mental dislocation. Given Boy A's final floating reel, it's an anchoring performance in every sense of the word.

Read Full Review >
75

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The genius of Garfield's performance is that he fills him with equal amounts of terror and wonder.

Read Full Review >
70

Variety Joe Leydon

Picture inspires respect for its first-rate performances, artful construction and meticulous understatement.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Boy A comes frustratingly close to succeeding as tragedy.

Read Full Review >
60

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

If Hitchcock had done a coming-of-age drama, it might have resembled this haunting, nervous, sad movie about an early twentysomething.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Moves in a predictable path that includes some remarkable coincidences.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Magazine David Edelstein

This is another of those dead-kid dramas in which the terrible event is handled like a striptease--tantalizing flashes until the climax.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

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

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use