The Snapper

Bac Films | Release Date: December 3, 1993

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

83	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Peter Travers

This rip-roaring Irish comedy is the freshest surprise of the season. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

The Snapper is amiability itself. Good-humored and sassy, it is one of those charmingly off-the-cuff films that doesn't let its small scale stand in the way of pleasure. [03 Dec 1993, p.F1]

Roger Ebert

The Snapper sees its characters with warmth and acceptance, and earns its laughs by being wise about human nature. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

It's a wonderful movie and a credit to all of Ireland and all of its people and pubs. The movie deserves a supreme compliment: It's so good it makes you want to go out at once and start a family of your own. [17 Dec 1993, p.B]

Jay Carr

It sounds like what in this country would be a grim tale, but in The Snapper (Dublin working-class slang for baby) Stephen Frears and an Irish cast turn it into a terrific little comedy of nonstop vitality and warmth. [17 Dec 1993, p.98]

John Hartl

Breezy, good-hearted Irish comedy. [17 Dec 1993, p.H3]

Hal Hinson

The Snapper is a small movie, but its spirit is gigantic. [17 Dec 1993, p.C1]

EmpireKim Newman

Written by Roddy Doyle this was never going to be a depressing tale of single parenthood. Instead we watch through rose-tinted glasses as the ever watchable Colm Meaney bonds with his family over his daughter's pregnancy out of wedlock in Catholic Ireland. Read full review

Vincent Canby

A small, joyful lark of a film. Read full review

Derek Elley

There’s plenty of unvarnished, off-the-wall Irish humor, especially in the ensemble scenes of family life and boozy barroom chat, plus real warmth beneath the rough one-liners. Read full review

Desson Thomson

Stephen Frear's The Snapper hits the spot nicely, if your spot likes hearty rounds of working-class comedy. Read full review

David Ansen

As warm and lived-in as an old pair of boots, The Snapper is an honorable feel-good movie. Read full review

Marc Savlov

There's not as much bombast here as there was in Parker's Commitments, but then Frears is an entirely different kind of director. He prefers the ensemble to the character study, and here he does a wonderful job of it. Read full review

James Berardinelli

It's refreshing to see an old subject dealt with in the open and original manner that The Snapper handles pregnancy. The marriage of humor and drama is admittedly imperfect, but it works well enough to occasionally spawn laughter and touch the heart. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Though the film has its share of brisk one-liners and contrived situations played for their obvious comic potential, its appealing mix of sweetness and grit, and ultimate reliance on character to carry the material, make it a pleasant surprise. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Better-than-average sitcom stuff, enhanced by the lively performances, Doyle's own adaptation, and the able direction of Stephen Frears.

Edward Guthmann

Gentler in tone than the English working-class comedies of Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet and High Hopes), The Snapper manages to draw laughs from the cheerful vulgarity of its characters without ridiculing them. [17 Dec 1993, p.C3]

Staff (Not Credited)

This adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel may not display the glitz and relentless energy of The Commitments, but it has wit, feeling and authenticity. Read full review