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Joe the King
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Frank Whaley
Directed by: Frank Whaley
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 15, 1999
DVD: February 15, 2000
Running Time: 93 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language and abusive situations concerning a child
Starring Noah Fleiss, Val Kilmer, Karen Young, Ethan Hawke, John Leguizamo, and Camryn Manheim
Abused by his mother and his harsh, drunk father (Kilmer), 14-year-old Joe (Fleiss) progresses from committing petty thefts for food to stealing the cashbox from his employer to pay off his father's debts, all of which lead to disaster.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
This is a smart film, told in a minor key, that augurs well for Whaley's directing career.
Read Full Review >Film.com Ernest Hardy
Has moments that are haunting, and it stays with you long after the lights have come back up.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Whaley's self-effacing but strongly etched and wrenchingly effective film.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
One of my favorite U.S. fiction features at 1999's Sundance Festival.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber
The atmosphere of the movie is dense and unrelieved; it's a heavy role for such a little boy, and some people won't want to watch such a bleak, monster world.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The movie isn't a day in the park, but it manages to close on an existentially uplifting note.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Has enough simmering beneath its sweaty, grimy and disconsolate surface to be more than just another rite-of-passage missive set in the '70s.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
Rarely falters but neither does it ever take flight.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly F. X. Feeney
Whaley successfully balances his scenes on a knife-edge of tenderness and anger that was Truffaut's trademark.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Leads you through a miserable childhood without sentimentality or relief. The effect is torturous.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A powerful little gem: a little bit of "The Outsiders" (the film's tone is remarkably similar to Coppola's film, minus the airy redemption and golden sunrises), a lot of "The 400 Blows," and a slice of "Radio Flyer" all wrapped up in a dirty black bow.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
14-year-old Noah Fleiss gives a performance that's every bit as astonishing as Haley Joel Osment's work in "The Sixth Sense."
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
In the end, the film feels a little futile; its relentless, one-miserable-note tone is numbing.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Amy Taubin
The film belongs to Fleiss, and he makes Joe's inner life so transparent that it's heartbreaking to watch the boy dig himself into a hole.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
Whatever else is weak or indulgent in this fledgling effort -- self-consciousness and a certain grim solemnity come to mind -- it has the jolt of truth about it, like a lot of thinly veiled fiction.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Dramatically Joe the King feels unglued, as if crucial sequences had been left on the cutting-room floor.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Bruce Fretts
So willfully bleak and profanity-filled, it could only have been written and directed by an actor.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Matt Kelsey
Without any trustworthy characters for young Joe and no actual story development, the movie drags.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
philip w. gave it a10:
One of my favorites of all time. dont care bout what other boneheaded critics would say but as for me the movie was moving and superbly uniformly acted. simlpe story but very true and very heartfelt. unforgetable!
Chad S. gave it an 8:
"Joe the King" reminded me of Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" ("The Chipmunk Song" opens the film) because both films are set in the seventies, and yet the music, director Frank Whalley selects, the oldies but goodies music from Theresa's vinyl record collection, suggests that the seventies was the last innocent decade. Before MTV, Crowe suggested, as Alvin, Theodore, and Simon crooned over images of Southern California, was the notion that our youth culture wasn't so rigidly commodified, any music could describe the American landscape. In "Joe the King", Joe's mom controls the film's music. It suggests her girly innocence of what married life would be like. Happy. Johnny Ray and others of his ilk, serves as an ironic soundtrack to her life as a battered wife and haggard mother. There are times we forget we're watching a seventies period piece. Outside of the scene at a disco roller rink, there is no Fleetwood Mac, or Carly Simon, to suggest the "Me Decade". In particular, there's a scene, in which, corporeal punishment is administered by Joe's teacher (Camryn Manheim) when Joe lies about his father's occupation. Val Kilmer is scary as Joe's father, and Noah Fleiss as Joe, gets our sympathy without pandering for it. Since's Joe's friend looks so much like Paul Pfeiffer from "The Wonder Years", "Joe the King" can be read as the defunct ABC series, but with less wonder and more forget.
Leslie H. gave it an 8:
Great job by Noah Fleiss for his part, the story line was great, the presentation great. I think this was one of the best movies about a boy that I have seen in a long time, a real, down to earth story about how kids put up with life and their surrounding parts. I hope he plans to do another movie, call it Joe: The King Returns, Thanks.
