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This Is England
Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    100
    The script and direction are virtually flawless.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    100
    As its title implies, This Is England isn't a hyperstylized head-trip a la "Trainspotting" but a straightforward calling to account.
  3. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    100
    One of the year's best movies...It's one of the simplest and best re-creations of downscale urban England during the gritty post-punk years ever put on screen, and it's both upsetting and very funny.
  4. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    100
    Masterfully charted and acted.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    91
    Taut, tense, and self-consciously stylish.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    90
    The result is a film marked by eruptions of brutal violence, but also passages of extraordinary tenderness.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Crust
    90
    The writer-director brilliantly juxtaposes the personal and the political, bookending a stirring coming-of-age drama with the provocative opening and an equally affecting end sequence.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    90
    A modest, near-flawless gem, This Is England is the fifth feature by the young British director Shane Meadows, doing his best work since he first hit the festival scene in the mid-1990s with his hilarious, raw-hewn shorts "Small Time."
  9. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    90
    It has the feel of a classic coming-of-age story. It's the sleeper of the summer.
  10. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    The movie is taut, tense, relentless. It shows why Shaun feels he needs to belong to a gang, what he gets out of it and how it goes wrong.
  11. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Sid Smith
    88
    A small film that packs a big wallop.
  12. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Eric Alt
    88
    This Is England may be best summed up as a "coming-of-age" story that puts aside the clichéd baggage often carried by the description and ultimately ends up being moving, genuinely funny, thought-provoking, and highly recommended.
  13. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jennie Punter
    88
    Authentic, fresh and utterly relevant.
  14. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    It's a remarkably sure-handed film, taking us with Shaun on a journey through alienation, anger, trepidation, ebullience and fear.
  15. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    80
    This Is England, set in the social dystopia of Margaret Thatcher's Great Britain, gives us something far more humane and complex than a culturally specific memoir about Doc Martens shoes, reggae music and mindless aggression.
  16. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marrit Ingman
    78
    Somewhere between the pop jouissance of Guy Ritchie and the social realism of Ken Loach, this ballsy drama freeze-frames bleak Thatcherite Yorkshire and exposes its racist underbelly.
  17. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    Turgoose, in his first film role, is entirely convincing as the strong-willed but naïve Shaun, and Graham is a genuine fright as the feral prototype of the violent skinhead culture on the horizon.
  18. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    The 34-year-old Meadows has assembled an effective cast, especially newcomer Thomas Turgoose as Shaun and veteran Stephen Graham as Combo.
  19. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    75
    British director Shane Meadows' strongest film to date is also his most personal: A stylish fictionalization of his own wayward youth, spent among a group of working-class skinheads in Thatcher's England.
  20. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    In addition to telling an involving story, This Is England is insightful and informative.
  21. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    75
    Sad, menacing, empathetic story.
  22. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    70
    With its knockout lead perfs and taut if slightly familiar construction, this '80s-set dramedy about a skinhead gang reps Meadows' most fluently made film so far.
  23. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    60
    Facile pop psychology is the real tragedy here, a double disappointment given the film's smart take on pop culture.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 68 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 38
  3. Negative: 4 out of 38
  1. OllieL.
    10
    Totally amazing and influential.
  2. suity_sahar
    10
    Brilliant. Almost every scene is perfection. Contains intense scenes that slowly creep up on you. Right up there with Trainspotting I have to admit. Now i want to see the series that came after.… Full Review »
  3. rotku
    8
    Gritty but believable and the characters are superbly acted. A true sense of what growing up in the miserable era of the early eighties was like. The concept has been done a million times over but rarely with this much aplomb.… Full Review »
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