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December Boys
December Boys Image
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Metascore
56 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 9 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer
  • Summary: 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)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Tasteful and gorgeously photographed coming-of-age story.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    75
    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.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: William Thomas
    60
    More Sunday afternoon filler than cinema sensation, it's a perfectly pleasant drama, but you'll struggle to remember it the next day.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. StaceyM.
    7
    Gentle and pleasing movie.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. jimmytancredi
    6
    I spent the movie with a feeling that something would happen that impact, and it did. I was surprised, especially with the furl of the story. I cried of course, with the relation of friendship that was established through the brothers during the film. Definitely I could see the lyricism and depth that the film suggests. Outside the tremendous opportunity to put Radcliffe highlighted, and the film is all of the little boy Misty, who's there at the bottom of the poster. I really enjoyed... shows the importance of friendship, being given to family when we oportunide of having it. A star for the landscape, found it was fabulous. A star for the performance of Dan, I appreciated a lot. A star for the decision at the end of Sparks. It was very meaningful. A star for the end of the movie, thought it was beautiful.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JamesC.
    2
    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.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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