Gramercy Pictures (I) | Release Date: September 19, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
5
Negative:
2
88
Boston GlobeRenee Graham
Going All the Way is a familiar story told with daring and unsentimental eloquence. At a time when it is rare for exceptional books to become exceptional films, Pellington's debut arrives as a pleasant and welcome exception. [10 Oct 1997, p.C5]
63
The direction by first-timer Mark Pellington is competent, as he pretty much allows Wakefield's script to play out without fanfare. [10 Oct 1997]
63
Maybe it's time for a moratorium on Ike-era coming-of-age pictures. Going All the Way, a faithful but belabored adaptation of Dan Wakefield's autobiographical 1970 novel, certainly suggests that it is. [10 Oct 1997, p.04]
63
The biggest problem with "Going All the Way" is that, despite the genuine eccentricity of Davies' performance and the charismatic smoothness of Affleck's work, the material lacks the freshness it must have had when the book was first published. [10 Oct 1997]
63
Pellington, an award-winning music video director, has a good eye for setting scenes, although the movie falls a few times into a choppy video clip-to-video clip rut. [26 Oct 1997, p.04E]
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneStephen Witty
Blown up to big-screen size, you can see that "Going All the Way" isn't "a Midwestern 'Catcher in the Rye' " at all. It's really an old-fashioned gay romance - with everything but the significant glances ruthlessly cut out. [12 Dec 1997, p.L33]
50
Ultimately, it is nothing more than a souped-up, intermittently interesting take on some familiar material. [24 Oct 1997, p.22]