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Julien Donkey-Boy
Metascore
52 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 23
  3. Negative: 4 out of 23
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  1. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Peter Brunette
    90
    Not a film for everyone. And though I deeply admire it, it's not a film that even I want to see again in the immediate future.
  2. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    Feels like it could go blow up at any time. It implodes instead, and the meltdown, though visible in one of the final sequences, is still corrosive.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    Korine remains unnecessarily smitten with sordidness, and there's plenty of it here.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    A film of piercing beauty and pain.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    80
    The movie is truly an open text--its generous poetry inspires free association rather than predictable emotion.
  6. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    It seems at first to be merely a jumble of discordant images ("Freaks" shot by the "Blair Witch" crew) but then, if you stay with it, the pattern emerges from the jumble.
  7. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Korine confirms his reputation as one of today's most experimentally minded filmmakers, helped by an inventive cast including German director Herzog in a surprisingly strong performance as the father.
  8. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: John Patterson
    70
    Looks like no other recent release...certainly rich enough to warrant more than one viewing.
  9. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    63
    I'd never seen anything like it, and can say that I hope to never see anything like it again.
  10. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    63
    At its best, it will impale you on its raw urgency. At other times, it's a slog through long improvisations that never achieve dramatic liftoff.
  11. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    60
    Undeniably interesting, but not entirely successful.
  12. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    60
    The stranger and more unusual the characters, and the less they're explained, the better.
  13. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    58
    Often unsettlingly funny, though it ultimately recedes into a dark womb of despair.
  14. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    55
    Writer-director Harmony Korine seems more interested in churning your stomach than in warming your heart.
  15. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    50
    In his quest to capture truth and honesty, (Korine) has made a movie that is practically impossible to like.
  16. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    40
    Julien may be a donkey-boy but it's Harmony Korine, this film's director, who is a horse's ass.
  17. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Ana Marie Cox
    40
    The filmmaker brings the audience to a precipice of discomfort, implying that the discomfort is itself the point.
  18. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    40
    Rung with numb inarticulateness.
  19. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Janet Maslin
    40
    The territory where the circus sideshow meets the avant-garde...visually arresting, dramatically blurry.
  20. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    30
    A handheld and grainy exercise in cine-stupefaction...too spastic to connect...the movie just flails the air.
  21. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    25
    Sucker bait for the sort of credulous cinast who'll buy anything ugly and boring that looks like it's avant-garde...rancid stew of cheap shocks, sleaze and phony artiness.
  22. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Edward Guthmann
    25
    A self-indulgent mess.
  23. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    20
    Juvenile and pointless.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. CraigB
    10
    Okay, this is not a film for everyone. However, it stikes me that most of the negative comments that I have read here seem to be more a reaction to the characters and their lifesyle than to the elements of filmmaking. These are not necessarily people you want to hang out with in real life, but likable characters are not necessarily interesting characters to watch. I suppose one could fairly criticize the film as lacking in plot but that is precisely one aspect of the film that I find appealing. By not following the conventions of Hollywood storytelling, the film creates an atmosphere in which one feels that anything could happen. I found the camera work to be engaging and creative. The characters were completely original and all fairly well developed. In fact, I would defy anyone to say that these characters are ones that we have seen anywhere else in any other movie. I believe the quality of the acting was superb and very convincing (especially after seeing an interview with the actor who played the title character; he's not the dimwit that he played in the film). This film provides an interesting glimpse into a culture that is worth examining.… Full Review »
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