The History Boys
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 21, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
In The History Boys, as in all of Bennett's work, irony is what the characters live and breathe - and I mean irony in its truest sense, of using language to present opposite and often sly alternatives to accepted wisdom. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
If the literacy of The History Boys is deemed uncinematic, then give me uncinema anytime. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
History Boys boasts a dazzling verbal cleverness--the gleeful rat-a-tat of snappy banter expertly executed--that doesn't keep it from also being deeply, exquisitely sad. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A shrewdly acted, bittersweet comedy. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Vibrates with exuberance and erudition. Read full review
80
Village VoiceScott Foundas
The film version of The History Boys is a lesser thing, more fixed in space and time and rendered almost unbearably "cinematic" in patches by Hytner's gymnastic camerawork. Yet the ideas and feelings of the piece remain so rich that it almost doesn't matter. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The movie is brilliant and infectious, much like Bennett's voice: English-deadpan but never snide, and generous to a fault. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Revved by the stage performances, the cast courses through the material with disciplined exuberance--especially the eight young actors at the center of the drama, many of whom have never appeared in a film before. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The current of intellectual energy snapping through the ferociously engaging screen adaptation of Alan Bennett’s Tony Award-winning play feels like electrical brain stimulation. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The screen, like the stage, can barely contain this marvelous play of intelligence.
80
Washington PostPeter Marks
Wildean panache of this caliber is not the norm in movie dialogue, so on this score alone, The History Boys is a blessing. The top-drawer work of a fine ensemble is another. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
Clearly, the filmmakers did manage to capture some measure of lightning in a bottle. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The film can't hide its stage origins, and in cutting almost an hour on the journey from stage to screen some resonance is lost. But Bennett's dialogue sparkles and skewers with killer wit. Dig in. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The History Boys is an erudite, sharply written film with consummate performances, but its origins on the stage are all too obvious. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
There's no one today writing English dialogue as sharp as Bennett's, and hearing it delivered expertly is a pleasure worth sitting through some dodgy montages for. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The History Boys is as much about the meaning and value of reading and learning as it is about the ho-humness of genital fondling by sir with love. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This is a piece engineered to run on the high octane of clever dialogue. It's chatty, it's wordy, but a passion for the well-written word lies at the thematic heart of the thing, and cinematic flourishes would only clog the arteries. Purists can rest assured -- there's no clogging. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The film is worth seeing, if you have any fondness for the writer who co-created "Beyond the Fringe" and who is second only to Stoppard in his sprightly but mellow wit. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
As you can reliably expect of a work by Alan Bennett, The History Boys is bubbly, witty, sneaky-smart entertainment with the additional virtues of heart and cunning. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Though all but two students look too old, their interpretations are unanimously fine. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
If you liked the play and the compelling ideas Bennett kicks around, the movie makes for an intellectually invigorating couple of hours. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
A lively and entertaining disquisition on the purpose and uses of knowledge in a world that cares less about scholarship than quantifiable results. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The material has crackle, but its vibrancy feels far off and muted, like a fireworks display going off in a neighboring town. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
An excellent British drama adapted by Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George) from his celebrated play. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
At the last, despite the modern touches in Bennett's screenplay, The History Boys fills the traditional bill. Wellington would probably not be too upset by it. Eventually it tells us that Waterloo is still in pretty good hands. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Now seen for the first time in close-up, these "boys" are well past adolescence, which makes Bennett's sympathy for poor Hector a bit easier to take. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The play's most acclaimed performance - rotund Richard Griffiths as the closeted teacher Hector - is great in the movie, too. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Though it preserves the terrific lead performance of Richard Griffiths - best known to film audiences as Harry Potter's evil stepfather - The History Boys is essentially filmed theater, with minimal, and usually clumsy, attempts to take the action out of the classroom. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A funny thing happened to The History Boys on the way to the screen. The players are the same, the dialogue is pretty much identical, but the vibrancy of the play -- its exhilarating immediacy -- has been muted. Read full review
60
VarietyLeslie Felperin
Audiences coming cold to this largely faithful adaptation of Alan Bennett's clever but contrived classroom comedy won't be so wowed, given picture's irrevocably stagy feel. Nicholas Hytner's flat-footed direction doesn't help, nor do picture's younger cast members' over-rehearsed performances, although the seasoned thesps shine. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Somewhere in the translation from stage to screen, The History Boys has become an intelligent misfire. What's left is a literate but listless film. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
With the original stage cast, the film is doggedly faithful to the play but has failed to translate it into much of a film. Read full review
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