Boys State
Apple TV+ | Release Date (Streaming): August 14, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 13, 2020
I don’t know that I’ve seen a movie this year that simultaneously depressed the hell out of me and filled me with hope like Boys State. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 13, 2020
It’s a comedy, a heartbreaker and, above all, a twisty and suspenseful piece of political theater. Its rough-and-tumble snapshot of American youth in action is somehow both troubling and exhilarating. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshAug 11, 2020
It is potentially the most culturally relevant film of the fall, masterfully made and one heck of an emotional roller coaster. From moment to moment Boys State veers from exciting to troubling to amusing, and it's never anything less than utterly riveting. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 3, 2020
It’s not clear if it’s funny or tragic, if it’s reality TV or reality itself. But Boys State is as exciting and moving as Steve James’s high school basketball epic Hoop Dreams was a generation ago, with its emotional rawness, its guileless patriotism and capacity for hurt and wonder. Read full review
100
SlashfilmJason GorberFeb 1, 2020
Smart, entertaining, darkly comic and profoundly unsettling, Boys State is simply brilliant. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 12, 2020
Mostly though, State tells a story both heartbreaking and hopeful: part C-Span, part Lord of the Flies, and wholly unforgettable. Read full review
91
The Film StageJordan RaupFeb 1, 2020
What makes Boys State so compelling is it appeals both to the most cynical and hopeful of viewers. Read full review
90
PolygonTasha RobinsonApr 12, 2024
One of the many things that makes Boys State entertaining as well as relevant is the way Moss and McBaine capture these kids’ different facets, and track how their combined ambition and naïveté play into the big picture. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 13, 2020
McBaine and Moss expertly build tension leading toward the election. Last-minute surprises and frustratingly cynical attacks only increase the edge-of-your-seat aspect of the film. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 13, 2020
A hugely entertaining and scarily edifying documentary. Read full review
90
CNNBrian LowryAug 13, 2020
One of the year's best documentaries, Boys State presents a fascinating look at teenagers brought together for an exercise in government, which somehow manages to unerringly encapsulate partisan divisions in the US right now. An opening medley of past participants -- including Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Cory Booker, Rush Limbaugh and Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito -- only stokes curiosity about where these youngsters will be 30 or 40 years from now. Read full review
90
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 10, 2020
Forget who wins or loses, Boys State is about that promise of change in the air. And it’s exhilarating. Read full review
90
Screen DailyAnthony KaufmanJan 29, 2020
A compelling political campaign chronicle and an incisive allegory of American democracy, Boys State is also much more fun that you’d expect. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMike Clark-MadisonAug 13, 2020
These are just boys, and it is all pretend, but Boys State, like the event itself, delivers some legitimate life lessons. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonAug 14, 2020
You won’t forget any of the young men who populate this film, nor will this be the last you’ll hear from them. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 13, 2020
For every moment of inspiration and hope in the teen-political documentary Boys State, when you find yourself thinking, By gosh, the kids are all right, there are at least two jaw-dropping instances of 16- and 17-year-olds compromising their values with such cynicism you weep for our future. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrAug 13, 2020
In this little microcosm you see not only a portrait of some serious-minded youths, but how their world views, morals and political beliefs have been molded by what’s happening in the country. And it manages to be both hopeful and bleak about our political present and future. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 12, 2020
Boys State is a portrait of the country in microcosm: divided, but not yet irredeemably lost. Read full review
85
The AtlanticDavid SimsAug 16, 2020
Boys State is both inspiring and occasionally terrifying, and that befits its gaze into America’s political present and future. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenAug 24, 2020
It’s a bleakly familiar message for our times. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreAug 12, 2020
McBaine and Moss are the team behind 2014’s The Overnighters, a wrenching film about the North Dakota oil boom, and they’re interested in something beyond the contrast of adolescent faces and grown-up topics — or, for that matter, serving up simple optimism about Gen Z when taking in these young men at the cusps of their political lives. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 10, 2020
Boys State will leave you alternately cheered and alarmed at the shape of things to come. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsAug 18, 2020
With so much attention paid to the campaign trail, Boys State fails to show us how the waterworks get built. Read full review
75
TheWrapSteve PondAug 13, 2020
Though it has its inspirational moments, Boys State is definitely not the feel-good story you might be expecting: It pays lip service to finding common ground but winds up illustrating how impossible that has become. Maybe they’re producing better potential leaders over at Girls State? Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 12, 2020
Politicians are craven and driven by all the wrong reasons, and though the pair uncover a handful of hopeful voices – especially Ben Feinstein, a compassionate and committed idealist – you will likely exit the world of Boys State as cynical as you entered it. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 11, 2020
Boys State is the most depressing film about boys since “Lord of the Flies.” If anything, it’s even more bleak, because it’s not fiction and it’s not allegory. No, this is a documentary about actual boys. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePat BrownAug 9, 2020
The film suggests that our political system is a popularity contest that functions for no one but those jockeying for power. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJan 29, 2020
The filmmakers illustrate that governmental power is a fickle thing, prone to exploitation and good will alike, depending on who decides to pursue its offices. Read full review
75
The PlaylistWarren CantrellJan 29, 2020
Although Boys State provides its four leads some talking-head reflection moments, the documentary is largely verité and linear. This gives the project a decidedly honest and organic feeling, but yet it does slow it down at times, depriving it of momentum. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 14, 2020
By eliding the Legion’s history and focusing on winning personalities, the filmmakers have made an engaging movie about some kids who — as their jokes give way to debates, stratagems and even shocks — already seem to be drafting their own more interesting sequel. Read full review
70
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 12, 2020
Boys State is a grim lesson—a painful allegory—in the realities of American politics, in who so often wins campaigns by running platforms built on red-meat shibboleths while ignoring or barely addressing the pertinent ills of the country. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 3, 2020
Ultimately, Boys State works because the “characters” are so compelling. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJan 4, 2021
Boys State is a thoroughly depressing portrait of American teen masculinity, Texas politics, and the overall state of democracy. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 29, 2020
Boys State inevitably feels more and more like reality TV programming, which is both appropriate for our times and depressing. Read full review
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