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Mister Foe

EMAILPRINTMagnolia Pictures

Mister Foe reviews
62
7.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Romance

Written by: Ed Whitmore
David Mackenzie
Peter Jinks (novel)

Directed by: David Mackenzie

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 5, 2008
DVD: November 11, 2008

Running Time: 95 minutes, Color

Origin: UK

Summary

RATING: R for strong sexual content and language

Starring Jamie Bell, Ciarán Hinds, Sophia Myles, Claire Forlani, and Ewen Bremner

Hallam Foe is a troubled young man whose knack for voyeurism paradoxically reveals his darkest fears, and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother’s death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city of Edinburgh for love. Featuring a lively soundtrack with Franz Ferdinand, Sons and Daughters and Orange Juice among others, Mister Foe is a darkly twisted, entertaining work of magical realism from one of the leading lights of the new Scottish cinema. (Magnolia Pictures)

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

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Most entertaining comic drama with a great turn by Jamie Bell.

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78

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Unlike any coming-of-age movie you've seen before. Equal parts sweet and perverse, this Scottish film is unpredictable in places where it might be twee, and subversively fanciful in others where it might be punishing.

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75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Especially worthwhile for the chemistry between Bell and Myles.

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75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Were it not for its pat resolutions, Mister Foe might deserve a mention alongside such classic psycho-sexual thrillers as "Vertigo" and "Peeping Tom." Instead, Mackenzie has reined in the strangeness to deliver a conventional, if better than average, mystery.

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70

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The emotions are as gritty as the Edinburgh locales, and the sex is dark, urgent, and deeply selfish.

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70

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Thanks mainly to Bell's abundant charisma, Hallam makes for a strangely likable antihero.

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70

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

May not be entirely original or entirely successful, but it's definitely fun to watch.

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70

Variety Derek Elley

Tip-top performances, led by young British thesp Jamie Bell, and a deftly handled tone reflecting all the title teen's confused emotions make Hallam Foe a viewing delight.

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70

Village Voice Vadim Rizov

The whole thing's poised uneasily somewhere between urban fairy tale and actual human psychodrama, never really landing in one place or the other.

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70

The New York Times A.O. Scott

If the extremity of Hallam's temperament tests the limits of our sympathy as well as our credulity, Mr. Bell's ability to seem by turns sweet and scary prevents us from losing interest entirely.

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67

Portland Oregonian Grant Butler

If you've been wondering what Billy Elliot would look like all grown up, naked or in a fetching frock, here's your chance.

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60

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

This Scottish film often pushes for realism, though its stylish tones fall back on whimsy.

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60

Los Angeles Times Robert Abele

Ultimately Mackenzie's tidy resolutions undercut the psychological depth, but as offbeat coming-of-age yarns go, Mister Foe has a commanding fleetness.

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60

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Mister Foe flirts too often with the unlikely and the foolish, yet there is something to admire in the nerve of its reckless characters, so uneasy in their skins.

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60

Empire Damon Wise

An intriguing rites-of-passage story with a delirious, skewed perspective and an almost palpable sexual pulse.

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50

USA Today Claudia Puig

Not a movie to cozy up to. The twisted tale is only mildly intriguing, worth seeing mainly for the striking performance of Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as Hallam Foe, a creepy teenage voyeur beset with an Oedipal complex.

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50

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The film disappoints particularly in relation to "Young Adam," an earlier picture about sexual obsession from writer-director David Mackenzie; this one's more in line with the creamy tones and surface readings of "Asylum."

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20

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Jamie Bell gives a watchable performance in this self-conscious, coming-of-age drama, though the film's overall effect is best described as David Lynch lite.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

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

James C gave it an8:
This was a pleasant surprise. Sure there are maybe a few holes in the story but it has many clever inventions (the treehouse, hallam's skill at climbing buildings and picking locks) and the actors keep us emotionally connected. Probably my favorite thing is the evocation of the gloomy, gritty glamor of Scotland, which I wish were in more films!

Guilherme S gave it an8:
The most loving story about the most stranger character of the 21'th Century's movies.

Jay H gave it a5:
I tried watching this movie on three occasions, and could not get into it at all. I found it painfully slow moving. I did finish it but was not impressed. Very well acted though.

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