Borstal Boy
Strand Releasing | Release Date: March 1, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
But if the film flirts with being sentimental, it never completely gives in: The inherent strength of the material as well as the integrity of the filmmakers gives this coming-of-age story restraint as well as warmth. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Overall Sheridan keeps both "Oirishry" and sentimentality in check. He captures the book's evenhanded sense. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
Forces a self-examination that is both traumantic and revealing. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A likable rites-of-passage memory piece doused in period nostalgia, including the prominent use of vintage Movietone newsreels to mark the events of World War II. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Shows an unusual degree of generosity toward all its characters, and its tenderness yields some affecting moments, even if they don't ring entirely true. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
An important and interesting story, but the reform school itself never seems terribly harsh. Read full review
60
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
While the movie tries to make the connection between the rough but sensitive lad we see on screen and the notorious carouser of later years, there's little here to suggest whatever torment led Behan to drunkenness and an absurdly early death at 41.
58
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Though exploring, among other things, fallibility, homosexuality, injustice and loss, the picture seems afraid to really make any kind of strong statement, whether political or psychological. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A quaint, romanticized rendering. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The film's intimations of bisexual romance have a certain innate drama that no amount of bad acting or cornball rugby matches can completely erase. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's really a crock: a coming-of-age boys' prison film that has only a fanciful link with Behan's life. The film is a bastard grandchild of Tony Richardson's 1962 "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner." Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
My problem with Borstal Boy isn't so much with the facts as with the tone. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The result is a film that will probably please people already fascinated by Behan but leave everyone else yawning with admiration. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Given the serious subject matter, this adaptation of Irish writer Brendan Behan's autobiographical novel is surprisingly light and exceedingly good-natured. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The film moves briskly enough to be entertaining, but it can't escape the smothering hero worship that Sheridan infuses into every frame.
40
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
As drama it feels forced and highly conventional. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
For all its triteness, Sheridan's sentimentality has its poignancy: This adolescent boy is all set up to live out a halcyon life he'll never have. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
Somewhere along the way, Borstal Boy became fatally compromised. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
The direction is so muted and sentimental and the pacing so soporific that only Ciarian Tanham's saturated color cinematography of the sylvan countryside breaks the monotony. Read full review
30
VarietyDerek Elley
Mixes a rites-of-passage story with political and sexual elements to solid but finally uninvolving results. Read full review
10
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Sheridan seems terrified of the book's irreverent energy, and scotches most of its élan, humor, bile, and irony. What's left wouldn't have substantiated a memoir of any reputation, much less a movie. Read full review
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