Mister Foe
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: September 5, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Most entertaining comic drama with a great turn by Jamie Bell. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Unlike any coming-of-age movie you've seen before. Equal parts sweet and perverse, this Scottish film is unpredictable in places where it might be twee, and subversively fanciful in others where it might be punishing. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Especially worthwhile for the chemistry between Bell and Myles. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Were it not for its pat resolutions, Mister Foe might deserve a mention alongside such classic psycho-sexual thrillers as "Vertigo" and "Peeping Tom." Instead, Mackenzie has reined in the strangeness to deliver a conventional, if better than average, mystery. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
Tip-top performances, led by young British thesp Jamie Bell, and a deftly handled tone reflecting all the title teen's confused emotions make Hallam Foe a viewing delight. Read full review
70
Village VoiceVadim Rizov
The whole thing's poised uneasily somewhere between urban fairy tale and actual human psychodrama, never really landing in one place or the other. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
If the extremity of Hallam's temperament tests the limits of our sympathy as well as our credulity, Mr. Bell's ability to seem by turns sweet and scary prevents us from losing interest entirely. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
May not be entirely original or entirely successful, but it's definitely fun to watch. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The emotions are as gritty as the Edinburgh locales, and the sex is dark, urgent, and deeply selfish. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Thanks mainly to Bell's abundant charisma, Hallam makes for a strangely likable antihero. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianGrant Butler
If you've been wondering what Billy Elliot would look like all grown up, naked or in a fetching frock, here's your chance. Read full review
60
EmpireDamon Wise
An intriguing rites-of-passage story with a delirious, skewed perspective and an almost palpable sexual pulse. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Mister Foe flirts too often with the unlikely and the foolish, yet there is something to admire in the nerve of its reckless characters, so uneasy in their skins. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
Ultimately Mackenzie's tidy resolutions undercut the psychological depth, but as offbeat coming-of-age yarns go, Mister Foe has a commanding fleetness. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
This Scottish film often pushes for realism, though its stylish tones fall back on whimsy. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Not a movie to cozy up to. The twisted tale is only mildly intriguing, worth seeing mainly for the striking performance of Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as Hallam Foe, a creepy teenage voyeur beset with an Oedipal complex. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The film disappoints particularly in relation to "Young Adam," an earlier picture about sexual obsession from writer-director David Mackenzie; this one's more in line with the creamy tones and surface readings of "Asylum." Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Jamie Bell gives a watchable performance in this self-conscious, coming-of-age drama, though the film's overall effect is best described as David Lynch lite. Read full review
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