Beach Rats
| Release Date: August 25, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Julia CooperSep 21, 2017
Beach Rats stands on its own merits as one of the boldest, most original films of the year. It does that incredible thing of making you miss it before it's even over, like fireworks that turn to smoke before you're ready. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSep 7, 2017
The bold, masterful Beach Rats, one of the most exquisitely haunting LGBT coming-of-age stories ever told, takes place in the unhip fringes of Brooklyn, a land that time has forgotten. But nothing about this film is forgettable. Read full review
100
Village VoiceApril WolfeAug 24, 2017
Hittman’s depictions of sexuality, emotional crisis, and parent-teen relationships are rendered here without sentimentality — and with the burning urgency of a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse. Read full review
100
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpAug 22, 2017
If the film is tender, it’s merciless at the same time. Read full review
90
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 24, 2017
Dickinson is superb at tracing that veiled anguish, and Hittman--who wrote and directed the 2013 film It Felt Like Love--is a discreet and sympathetic guide to his fractured world. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 24, 2017
Harris Dickinson, the spellbinding British newcomer who plays Frankie, rewards the director’s scrutiny with piercing emotional depth and a startling lack of self-consciousness. Read full review
90
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 24, 2017
The back-and-forths of the character’s decisions feel real, and Mr. Dickinson’s laconic blankness (you would never guess the actor was British) helps to give the character’s existential crisis a charge. Ms. Hittman is also assured enough to know it can’t be easily resolved. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 25, 2017
Eliza Hittman's second feature is very much the work of a filmmaker with her own distinctive voice, combining moody poetry with textural sensuality to evoke the dangerous recklessness that often accompanies sexual discovery. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 25, 2017
Writer-director Eliza Hittman has a sensitive ear for the way adolescents reveal themselves through evasion: It’s a tension crucial to this anxious, tactile, profoundly sad study of a young man’s journey of sexual self-discovery and self-betrayal. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyAug 25, 2017
Hittman's devotion to the male bodies onscreen is obsessive. Most good filmmakers, and most good artists, are obsessives. It goes with the territory. Hittman's obsession creates a potent blend of eroticism, pent-up feelings and good old-fashioned appreciation of beauty. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 30, 2017
Between "Moonlight" and the upcoming "Call Me By Your Name," some are calling this the golden age of gay coming-of-age cinema; Beach Rats’ slow pacing and dreamy verité style doesn’t feel made for quite that level of mainstream appeal. But still it gets under the skin, and stays there. Read full review
83
The Film StageJordan RaupJan 30, 2017
As a hyper-focused, dream-like portrait of a teenager grappling with both the conditions of his upbringing and a newfound identity, Beach Rats feels invigorating at very turn. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJan 25, 2017
With an energetic set of young actors liberated by Hittman’s jittery naturalism, the movie remains a gripping drama throughout — a combination that speaks to the director’s emerging aesthetic. Read full review
80
EmpireNick de SemlyenNov 27, 2017
Powered by a taciturn, soulful performance by its young star, this meditation on fear, shame and sexual repression packs a wallop. Read full review
80
Total FilmTom DawsonNov 22, 2017
This dreamily shot US indie is an insightful study of sexual repression and awakening, featuring a compelling lead performance from Brit newcomer Dickinson. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 24, 2017
It’s hard to make a compelling movie about a character defined by indecision, Hamlet notwithstanding. Ms. Hittman, however, has done it. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 25, 2017
Beach Rats is a captivating character study and one that feels vital. Read full review
77
TheWrapMichael NordineJan 25, 2017
Beach Rats has an experiential, almost docudrama aesthetic whose lived-in authenticity is in keeping with that of the film as a whole. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenMay 1, 2020
Honest, incisive, and deeply sympathetic, Beach Rats is an intimate portrait of the cost that is paid when a teenager feels societal pressure to remain closeted. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedAug 31, 2017
The most memorable thing about it is the profoundly understated sensitivity of Harris Dickinson, a (surprisingly) British actor to keep an eye on. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 30, 2017
British actor Harris Dickinson gives a smashing breakthrough performance in Beach Rats. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaAug 24, 2017
The film is at its best when it lets Dickinson’s deceptively blank face and Hélène Louvart’s lyrically natural cinematography tell the story, which is far more informed by mood than events. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenSep 7, 2017
The details of characters’ internal thought processes are left to our imagination. Still, this movie hits the senses like fresh impact of saltwater air. Read full review
63
Paste MagazineKenji FujishimaAug 24, 2017
Dickinson, in his film debut, almost makes this familiar narrative feel fresh. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 23, 2017
Beach Rats could have explored that ethical quandary with more depth; instead it settles for something blocked, oblique and fascinating. Read full review
60
Screen DailyDavid D'ArcyJan 25, 2017
Fate is a blunt instrument here. Yet you still wind up asking for more depth from the characters for whom Hittman is asking you to feel something. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAug 23, 2017
Hittman (It Felt Like Love) turns out to be a conventional storyteller; despite her evocative styling and Dickinson’s surprisingly assured lead performance, her sophomore feature remains confined in monotonous, psychologically shallow coming-of-age-drama indiedom. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanSep 7, 2017
This very thinly sliced character study of beautiful if benighted adolescence is more a pre-coming-of-age tale, one that takes us close to, but not through, the transformative acquisition of good judgment. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSam C. MacMar 13, 2017
Beach Rats is most compelling when it puts a self-aware focus on Harris Dickinson’s sculpted male figure. Read full review
More From This Movie

78 Critic Reviews

6.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL