Liam
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: September 21, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
12
Baltimore SunStaff (Not credited)
Liam's deck is stacked. It's too bleak and filled with abrasive characters who don't deserve our sympathy to reveal much new about the human condition.
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Frears makes every note count for a lot in this beautifully gauged microcosm of big emotions expressed in small gestures.
60
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
A realist mode that strains credibility; it's tenuous and inflexible -- and easily ruptured by the contrived irony in Jimmy McGovern's screenplay. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Some will find Dad's last big act in the movie too melodramatic. I think it follows from a certain logic, and leads to the very last shot, which is heartbreaking in its tenderness. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
The acting -- especially by Borrows, Ian Hart and Hackett -- is strong and transparent, utterly convincing. The whole movie has a seamless flow and an utterly convincing sense of time and place. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
At once a heartfelt story about a family undone by violence and an overburdened allegory of fascism. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
There is something about Stephen Frears' complex, heartbreaking, beautifully made Liam that seems to speak eloquently, painfully to the dilemmas we are facing today, to the terrible price dark times can extort from us all. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Wields some power, but it's hard to shake the feeling you've seen it all before. Read full review
80
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
Liam is mostly an emotionally devastating chronicle of the disintegration of a family. The entire cast is superb, but Frears has cast two screen naturals in the lead roles.
70
New Times (L.A.)Luke Y. Thompson
Though the film came out a year ago in the U.K., the timing here is unfortunate, and one has to wish that, like so many bigger productions, Liam could have migrated to a more-distant release date. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Handsomely mounted but disappointingly slight. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Has some rapturously observant sequences concerning childhood. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Director Frears, in a radical shift from "High Fidelity," again (as in "Dangerous Liaisons") shows he's a master of period detail and subtle storytelling -- and the performances couldn't be more on the money. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
While there are similarities to the hardscrabble saga of "Angela's Ashes," Frears' film avoids the mawkish pitfalls of Alan Parker's screen adaptation. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
It's almost numbingly sad, but you won't regret watching -- and you'll surely never forget it. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Downbeat, ultimately tragic, but there's a wondrous, sad beauty here. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
What's left at the end is an emotionally restrained vision of harsh, impoverished lives, more thoughtful than affecting, and never less than gorgeous, but so unfocused it leaves only scattered impressions. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Walks the delicate boundary between politically inflected realism and costumed sentimentality. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Schickel
Unsparing but never unsympathetic, emerges as one of the year's best, most brutally honest movies. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
For what amounts to a fairly sentimental glance backward, the film is oddly styled; Andrew Dunn (who also shot the baroque "Monkeybone") favors oblique angles and lighting worthy of an Italian horror movie. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Ultimately grim, Liam is ripe in humanity --and even comedy.
80
VarietyDavid Stratton
This depiction of the trials and tribulations of a working-class Catholic family during the Depression is a far more intimate viewing experience than the similarly themed "Angela's Ashes." Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
Acting is the strongest element in Stephen Frears's Liam. Read full review
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Stephen Frears's stunning Liam, -- a vivid, intense evocation of another British time and place. Read full review
90
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It is through the genius of Frears, screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and this talented cast that Liam lets no one off the hook, least of all the audience. Read full review
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