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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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December Boys
EMAILPRINTWarner Independent Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Romance
Written by:
Michael Noonan (novel)
Marc Rosenberg
Directed by: Rod Hardy
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 14, 2007
DVD: December 11, 2007
Running Time: 105 minutes, Color
Origin: Australia / UK / USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, nudity, underage drinking and smoking
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Christian Byers, Lee Cormie, James Fraser, Jack Thompson, and Kris McQuade
Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, December Boys is the story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia during the 1960s. As the boys watch younger kids get adopted by loving families, they begin to realize that as they get older, their turn may never come. But the boys finally have something to look forward to when the convent sends them to visit the seaside one summer. While at the seaside, the boys meet a young couple unable to have children and who would make the perfect parents. The eldest of the boys, Maps, finds himself drawn to Lucy, a beautiful girl from down the coast. Competing to be the most adoptable, the rest of the boys, Sparks, Misty, and Spit, severely test their friendships as long-gestating feelings of rejection explode to the surface. The bonds of friendship eventually overcome the rivalries, sealing forever the strong ties that bind the December boys as they learn the real meaning behind friendship, family, and love. (Warner Independent Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Tasteful and gorgeously photographed coming-of-age story.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
This charming tale of a quartet of Australian orphans who share a life-altering holiday in the 1960s should appeal to sentimental adults old enough to wax nostalgic over their own adolescences.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
A refreshingly gentle treatment of familiar themes such as the inevitability of change, the dashing of youthful illusions and mutability of family. Enhanced by an exotic locale, the movie overcomes a well-trodden narrative path and unflinchingly brandishes its sentimentality as it stakes out its crowd-pleasing territory.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The film's dramatic moments are small but exquisitely rendered so that you feel the emotions experienced so many years ago. The film lingers afterward in your mind like a favorite vacation that triggered moments of sheer intensity.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman
Though familiar as an old shoe, this is straightforward and well told.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The film sort of loses its touch when it gets "dramatic" toward the end -- it's the type of flick where the sky gets overcast when everyone is sad -- but it's hard to argue with the movie's general good spirits.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The filmmakers can't decide whether to trust the period innocence of the book (and play down their casting coup) or let the young man rip as a preteen-babe magnet... So December Boys splits the difference -- safely, dully.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
For much of its duration, December is poignantly bittersweet, but the closing sugar rush washes its pleasing ambiguities away.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The movie would pour nicely onto a thick stack of pancakes.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A problematic memory play, shot through with honey-colored nostalgia, that backs nervously into darker matters.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The movie is mildly notorious for a (relatively chaste) scene in which Radcliffe's character loses his virginity. But if you're looking to watch this former child star grownup, track down his classic guest turn on TV's "Extras" instead.
Read Full Review >Variety Russell Edwards
Occasionally touching but rarely convincing coming-of-ager.
Read Full Review >Empire William Thomas
More Sunday afternoon filler than cinema sensation, it’s a perfectly pleasant drama, but you’ll struggle to remember it the next day.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
Juvenile viewers may well benefit from the movie. But, for the adult, it’s ultimately a film that arrives too early for the season in its title and too late in terms of style and impact.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Radcliffe is good at showing vulnerability but without the skills to give it gradation. The magic doesn't work for him this time.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There seem to be two movies going on here at the same time, and December Boys would have been better off going all the way with one of them.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
If Daniel Radcliffe is hoping for an acting life after Harry Potter, he might want to be choosier than this cloying little Australian number.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
A coming-of-age tale so treacly it doesn’t just tug your heartstrings, it attempts to glue them to your ribs.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
James C. gave it a2:
Harry Plodder is a better name for this dud. Yes, the scenery is great but the script is beyond lazy. Why Daniel R. would pick this film to be in is beyond me. The director uses metaphors like a sledgehammer. If I saw the black horse in the film for another second I would have guessed it was a KT Turnstall video. This film should be in the dictionary under, misfire.
Stacey M. gave it a7:
Gentle and pleasing movie.
