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The History Boys
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
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  1. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    100
    In The History Boys, as in all of Bennett's work, irony is what the characters live and breathe - and I mean irony in its truest sense, of using language to present opposite and often sly alternatives to accepted wisdom.
  2. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    91
    If the literacy of The History Boys is deemed uncinematic, then give me uncinema anytime.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    91
    History Boys boasts a dazzling verbal cleverness--the gleeful rat-a-tat of snappy banter expertly executed--that doesn't keep it from also being deeply, exquisitely sad.
  4. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    88
    Vibrates with exuberance and erudition.
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    A shrewdly acted, bittersweet comedy.
  6. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    The movie is brilliant and infectious, much like Bennett's voice: English-deadpan but never snide, and generous to a fault.
  7. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    80
    The film version of The History Boys is a lesser thing, more fixed in space and time and rendered almost unbearably "cinematic" in patches by Hytner's gymnastic camerawork. Yet the ideas and feelings of the piece remain so rich that it almost doesn't matter.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    The current of intellectual energy snapping through the ferociously engaging screen adaptation of Alan Bennett's Tony Award-winning play feels like electrical brain stimulation.
  9. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    The screen, like the stage, can barely contain this marvelous play of intelligence.
    All this critic's reviews
  10. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Peter Marks
    80
    Wildean panache of this caliber is not the norm in movie dialogue, so on this score alone, The History Boys is a blessing. The top-drawer work of a fine ensemble is another.
  11. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    80
    Revved by the stage performances, the cast courses through the material with disciplined exuberance--especially the eight young actors at the center of the drama, many of whom have never appeared in a film before.
  12. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Toddy Burton
    78
    Clearly, the filmmakers did manage to capture some measure of lightning in a bottle.
  13. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    The film can't hide its stage origins, and in cutting almost an hour on the journey from stage to screen some resonance is lost. But Bennett's dialogue sparkles and skewers with killer wit. Dig in.
  14. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    The film is worth seeing, if you have any fondness for the writer who co-created "Beyond the Fringe" and who is second only to Stoppard in his sprightly but mellow wit.
  15. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    75
    The History Boys is an erudite, sharply written film with consummate performances, but its origins on the stage are all too obvious.
  16. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    75
    There's no one today writing English dialogue as sharp as Bennett's, and hearing it delivered expertly is a pleasure worth sitting through some dodgy montages for.
  17. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    75
    This is a piece engineered to run on the high octane of clever dialogue. It's chatty, it's wordy, but a passion for the well-written word lies at the thematic heart of the thing, and cinematic flourishes would only clog the arteries. Purists can rest assured -- there's no clogging.
  18. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    Though all but two students look too old, their interpretations are unanimously fine.
  19. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    75
    The History Boys is as much about the meaning and value of reading and learning as it is about the ho-humness of genital fondling by sir with love.
  20. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    75
    As you can reliably expect of a work by Alan Bennett, The History Boys is bubbly, witty, sneaky-smart entertainment with the additional virtues of heart and cunning.
  21. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    If you liked the play and the compelling ideas Bennett kicks around, the movie makes for an intellectually invigorating couple of hours.
  22. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    70
    The material has crackle, but its vibrancy feels far off and muted, like a fireworks display going off in a neighboring town.
  23. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    70
    A lively and entertaining disquisition on the purpose and uses of knowledge in a world that cares less about scholarship than quantifiable results.
  24. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Stanley Kauffmann
    70
    At the last, despite the modern touches in Bennett's screenplay, The History Boys fills the traditional bill. Wellington would probably not be too upset by it. Eventually it tells us that Waterloo is still in pretty good hands.
  25. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    70
    An excellent British drama adapted by Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George) from his celebrated play.
  26. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    63
    A funny thing happened to The History Boys on the way to the screen. The players are the same, the dialogue is pretty much identical, but the vibrancy of the play -- its exhilarating immediacy -- has been muted.
  27. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    63
    The play's most acclaimed performance - rotund Richard Griffiths as the closeted teacher Hector - is great in the movie, too.
  28. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    Though it preserves the terrific lead performance of Richard Griffiths - best known to film audiences as Harry Potter's evil stepfather - The History Boys is essentially filmed theater, with minimal, and usually clumsy, attempts to take the action out of the classroom.
  29. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    63
    Now seen for the first time in close-up, these "boys" are well past adolescence, which makes Bennett's sympathy for poor Hector a bit easier to take.
  30. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    60
    Audiences coming cold to this largely faithful adaptation of Alan Bennett's clever but contrived classroom comedy won't be so wowed, given picture's irrevocably stagy feel. Nicholas Hytner's flat-footed direction doesn't help, nor do picture's younger cast members' over-rehearsed performances, although the seasoned thesps shine.
  31. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    Somewhere in the translation from stage to screen, The History Boys has become an intelligent misfire. What's left is a literate but listless film.
  32. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    50
    With the original stage cast, the film is doggedly faithful to the play but has failed to translate it into much of a film.
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User Reviews

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User Score
5.9 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 49 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 27
  3. Negative: 8 out of 27
  1. tonyGreen
    6
    Witty, intelligent, but a little mild. Most of the characters of the students in this large ensemble cast didn't really get coloured in. Homosexual content is very underplayed and unlikely to cause offense except to bigots. As a screenplay adaptation of a theatre play I don't think it quite makes the jump. Some interesting ideas about history and education are raised.… Full Review »
  2. MarkW.
    8
    Almost turned it off after the first 15 minutes but it really grew on me.
  3. MB.
    9
    A sadly misunderstood film that aims to teach about the value of knowledge in itself, as opposed to the growing modern emphasis on grades and exams. Seeing this through the experiences of the teenagers also gives insight into the many issues most young schoolboys will run into in their lives, and immediately makes them easily identifiable characters. Personally I did not feel their performance was lessened any by their age (go complain about Daniel Radcliffe being too old for harry potter if you want-I'd like to see you try to find an acceptable replacement that would not be abhorred by the fans!) and felt that the original actors from the play were very effective - so effective in fact that once I stopped consciously focusing on their age, I forgot the issue entirely! The exploration of homosexuality is another theme the majority of schoolboys will come across, however little they may admit it, and i felt this film explored the issue well. There is a trend for Hector to be labeled a pedarist when the point was that the boys themselves allowed this to happen as an act of sympathy towards a suppressed man who had very few real pleasures in life. This man is in fact more admirable than anything else, as it is this man, who upon such a short description would appear as a corrupt, lecherous character, who teaches them the real value of learning and knowledge. The various teachers embody different aspects of learning too, and i especially noted the headmaster, more concerned with the grades students get than the students themselves, a trend sadly more common these days. All in all, I feel this film has been too harshly slated by those who only see what is on the surface, and ignore what the film is actually trying to say.… Full Review »
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