December Boys
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP) | Release Date: September 14, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Tasteful and gorgeously photographed coming-of-age story. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
This charming tale of a quartet of Australian orphans who share a life-altering holiday in the 1960s should appeal to sentimental adults old enough to wax nostalgic over their own adolescences. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
A refreshingly gentle treatment of familiar themes such as the inevitability of change, the dashing of youthful illusions and mutability of family. Enhanced by an exotic locale, the movie overcomes a well-trodden narrative path and unflinchingly brandishes its sentimentality as it stakes out its crowd-pleasing territory. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film's dramatic moments are small but exquisitely rendered so that you feel the emotions experienced so many years ago. The film lingers afterward in your mind like a favorite vacation that triggered moments of sheer intensity. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJoshua Katzman
Though familiar as an old shoe, this is straightforward and well told. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The filmmakers can't decide whether to trust the period innocence of the book (and play down their casting coup) or let the young man rip as a preteen-babe magnet... So December Boys splits the difference -- safely, dully. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
For much of its duration, December is poignantly bittersweet, but the closing sugar rush washes its pleasing ambiguities away. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The film sort of loses its touch when it gets "dramatic" toward the end -- it's the type of flick where the sky gets overcast when everyone is sad -- but it's hard to argue with the movie's general good spirits. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The movie is mildly notorious for a (relatively chaste) scene in which Radcliffe's character loses his virginity. But if you're looking to watch this former child star grownup, track down his classic guest turn on TV's "Extras" instead. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
A problematic memory play, shot through with honey-colored nostalgia, that backs nervously into darker matters. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The movie would pour nicely onto a thick stack of pancakes. Read full review
60
EmpireWilliam Thomas
More Sunday afternoon filler than cinema sensation, it’s a perfectly pleasant drama, but you’ll struggle to remember it the next day. Read full review
60
VarietyRussell Edwards
Occasionally touching but rarely convincing coming-of-ager. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneSid Smith
Juvenile viewers may well benefit from the movie. But, for the adult, it’s ultimately a film that arrives too early for the season in its title and too late in terms of style and impact. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Radcliffe is good at showing vulnerability but without the skills to give it gradation. The magic doesn't work for him this time. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There seem to be two movies going on here at the same time, and December Boys would have been better off going all the way with one of them. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand
Oversaturated with sweetness and light. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Pleasant but pedestrian. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerAndy Spletzer
Bland and completely uninspiring. Read full review
40
Village VoiceElla Taylor
If Daniel Radcliffe is hoping for an acting life after Harry Potter, he might want to be choosier than this cloying little Australian number. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
A coming-of-age tale so treacly it doesn’t just tug your heartstrings, it attempts to glue them to your ribs. Read full review
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