Boys Don't Cry

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One of the best films of the year.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

There may not be a better- acted film this year.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An exceptional--and exceptionally disturbing--film from a first-time director and writer (with Andy Bienen) named Kimberly Pierce. Unflinching, uncompromising, made with complete conviction and rare skill.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

An amazing work, a film that seems to gurgle up from the American heartland, resonant and fully formed, ripe with possibilities.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

For a movie that ends in the profoundest depths of sadness, Boys Don't Cry contains one of the year's purest moments of joy.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

"In Cold Blood," "Badlands," "The Executioner's Song," and now, joining those grisly milestones on the heartland hit list, and every bit their equal, is Boys Don't Cry.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It's Swank, however, who's the revelation. By the end, her Brandon/Teena is beyond male or female. It's as if we were simply glimpsing the character's soul, in all its yearning and conflicted beauty.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

A radically disturbing and memorable movie whose images don't easily fade or diminish in power.

Variety Emanuel Levy

The poignant and candid Boys Don't Cry can be seen as a "Rebel Without a Cause" for these culturally diverse and complex times, with the two misfit girls enacting a version of the James Dean/Natalie Wood romance with utmost conviction.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Stunning...a film much tougher and more transfixing than its wan title.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Scorches the screen like a prairie fire.

Newsweek David Ansen

Peirce's taut, sure-footed first film sidesteps sensationalism without sacrificing any of the story's wonder and horror

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The longest, hardest sit of the season -- you are stuck there, a single tube of puckered muscle, waiting for the extremely ugly violence to occur -- but it is driven by performances of such luminous humanity that they break your heart.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A haunting, superbly made film. But it's also an unrelentingly sad and depressing experience.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A remarkable movie that merits a place alongside "The Executioner's Song" and "In Cold Blood" as an unforgettable depiction of tragedy in the heartland.

USA Today Mike Clark

A weeper poised to endure as one of the dominant independent features of the year.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Boys Don't Cry's intensity sneaks up on you like a snake.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A powerful, deeply moving tale, immeasurably facilitated by the performance of relatively unknown Hilary Swank as Brandon...smartly shot and edited, and the performances are dead-on.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

To say this bone-chilling, gut-turning feature is "The Crying Game"-meets-"In Cold Blood." But this is a film - writer/director Peirce's first - that matches those pictures in power, in surprise, and in unnerving drama.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

A stirring, emotionally true testament to foolish bravery as well as shameful evidence of the severity with which it is so often punished.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A kick to the heart, and Swank is a marvel. Any problems in the storytelling are more than balanced by her wholly committed work.

Dallas Observer Zac Crain

That's possibly Peirce's best trick of all, telling a true story so well that you can't remember how it ends. And when you remember, you hope that you were wrong.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

A powerful piece of social protest, skillfully written, directed, and acted...Hilary Swank as Brandon and Chloe Sevigny as his girlfriend Lana are especially fine.

Film.com Gemma Files

An incredible star turn from Hilary Swank.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A shockingly intimate and deeply affecting film about the roots of sexual role playing.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Gripping, and it's moving, but it isn't particularly subtle. There's a strong thread of tabloid drama running through its core -- but at least it's sensationalistic storytelling with a heart.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

To watch Sevigny's Lana slowly thaw to Brandon is to see the transformative, heartbreaking power of romance in a way that Hollywood is rarely able to capture anymore.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Swank gives one of the year's most complex and hard-hitting performances in the demanding central role.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Free of the disclaiming jokey sneer that defaces so much of contemporary neo-noir.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Swank's nuanced performance is remarkable and it's a powerful film.

TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon

It's essentially a play-by-play of events that's so cheaply made it reeks of made-for-TV status.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Too sketchy about her protagonist's interior life, and too fast and loose with the details of this story, to make much of an impact beyond its initial shock.

Time Elizabeth L. Bland

The movie lets down the material. It's to cool: all attitude, no sizzle.