Nowhere Boy
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Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 46 Ratings

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  • Starring: Aaron Johnson, Anne-Marie Duff, Kristin Scott Thomas
  • Summary: Imagine… John Lennon's childhood. Liverpool 1955: a smart and troubled fifteen year-old is hungry for experience. In a family full of secrets, two incredible women clash over John: Mimi, the buttoned-up Aunt who raised him, and Julia, the prodigal mother. Yearning for a normal family, John n escapes into the new and exciting world of rock n' roll where his fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the teenage Paul McCartney. Just as John begins his new life, tragedy strikes. But a resilient young man finds his voice - and an icon explodes into the world. (The Weinstein Company)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 32
  3. Negative: 1 out of 32
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    By the end of Nowhere Boy, you'll feel you know John Lennon better than you ever did.
  2. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    80
    Scott Thomas' delicate, ferocious performance captures a woman quietly at war with herself, who begins to realize that her vision of respectability may not fit the remarkable young man in her care.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Ian Freer
    60
    Anchored by a strong central turn, Nowhere Boy crafts entertaining, small-scale drama out of Lennon's huge-sized legend. It just lacks the spark and ambition of its subject.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    20
    Johnson is convincing as a swaggering, jokey Lennon, but the photos of young John, Paul and George that end the movie ultimately have more punch than this bubblegummy montage.

See all 32 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. PopcornNRoses
    9
    Not being a John Lennon fanatic but more of a casual fan of his, it was actor Aaron Johnson that brought me into Nowhere Boy, and I was right to be brought in - he hits this completely out of the ballpark. Lennon's upper teenage years are the focus, and we see the kind of home life Lennon had, and what shaped the man he would become as one of the biggest musical influences of all time. Johnson, a PNR Rising Star this year, is amazing - this kid has so much talent oozing out of him it won't be long before Oscar comes calling. Kristin Scott-Thomas shines as Mimi, John's somewhat icy aunt, with whom he lives, and Anne-Marie Duff is amazing as Julia, John's mum, who he finds out lives just down the road from him. Even for a casual Lennon fan, this is a great film to see just for those three performances. And just to be snarky, if ever there was a film that deserved the MPAA's ridiculous "smoking " advisory, this is it - Johnson is rarely if ever without a cigarette in the last third of the film, nor are many of the rest of the cast...Nowhere Boy shines all the way around, and I think John would be very pleased with the result - and Yoko has said that SHE is...… Expand
  2. mazky
    8
    By no means a masterpiece, but an enjoyable film about the tragedies that affected Lennon before becoming one of the greatest musicians his world has ever seen,

    One problem i found was a bit of an abrupt ending and it could of easily been extended but it did well enough in the time it was.    … Expand
  3. J-Shap
    7
    Nowhere Boy manages to leave all the recent musical biopics in the dust by doing the exact opposite of what they've been doing: Painting our God-like figure of music as a normal guy with a lot of problems. Who knows? Maybe if his mother had loved him more, he wouldn't have sung about it as much.… Expand
  4. MarcDoyle
    5
    I was under the misimpression that this would be a story about the formation of the Beatles from John Lennon's perspective. Instead, we get a poorly paced examination of Lennon and the two women in his life. I was, frankly, a little bored. The lead actor is solid enough to keep me interested, and his mother is terrific, but as a movie - I'd give it a pass.… Expand

See all 17 User Reviews

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