The Winslow Boy
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 30, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
USA TodayMike Clark
In the movie's high point, (Jeremy) Northam conducts an antagonistic interview with the boy, who eludes well-placed lawyerly traps.
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
A study in unexpressed emotion, but Mamet turns the flame so low that his film lacks the emotional payoff we expect. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The result is a rare treat, a revival of a period piece that doesn't descend into mere quaintness or prettiness, and that manages to capture the spirit of an earlier time without sacrificing the perspective of our own. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This is the kind of movie that literate viewers pine for, laced with gracefulness and wit. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Mamet's handsome, stately adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy does not embellish upon its source material. Instead it skillfully pares the play down to its essentials, arriving at a faithful but tighter version of this drama. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
Very English, very period and very polite. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Mamet illustrates that he can work as capably from someone else's script as he can from his own, and that his talent as a director is not eclipsed by his ability as a writer. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Handsomely appointed and faultlessly acted, but no more alive than a well-dressed corpse. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
What's left is "Masterpiece Theatre," a very clean, straightforward adaptation of a beautifully constructed play, faithful to a dead man's classical virtues -- harmony, proportion, balance -- if not to the director's own, more iconoclastic ones. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Sixty seconds of wondering if someone is about to kiss you is more entertaining than 60 minutes of kissing. By understanding that, Mamet is able to deliver a G-rated film that is largely about adult sexuality. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Mamet doesn't take the material as far as it can go -- we're left with a pleasing fable about the battle of the sexes and the virtues of persistence in a just cause. The neatness of it all is both appealing and appalling, and perhaps this combo is what finally hooked Mamet. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJessica Winter
This film is solidly built, faithful to its material, and utterly lacking in pretense, but its maker is still running in place. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyStaff (not credited)
This genteel period piece invites a typically Mametian tension between its characters' stylized manners and their underlying motivations. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Mamet's real triumph, however, is in his directing. Like every good director, he has "seen" the picture before he made it; and he saw it as a piece with the intimacy and physicality of a play that nonetheless flowed like cinema. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Genteel moviemaking with modern overtones, The Winslow Boy is especially good at the visual re-creation of its time. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
He doesn't lose his stylistic identity either: in addition to the very Mamet-like delivery of unfinished sentences, his command of rhythm and flow remains flawless throughout. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Beat by beat, Mamet turns out an immaculately staged, crisply paced, and elegantly acted movie. It's also a tad bloodless, but you can't have everything. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
This engaging film proves a total pleasure, suitable for moviegoers who like their films a bit old-fashioned but still mainstream. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
If The Winslow Boy has a flaw, it's that Mamet's style is impeccable to a fault, too cool and remote to have much of an emotional payoff. But since few directors can even approach his level of precision, that's a very minor complaint. Read full review
60
Film ThreatAllen White
Mamet loves to cast his current wives in lead roles -- Whatever you may feel about Mamet's writing, he has an uncanny knack for marrying mediocre actresses. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
At once a stifling exercise in thwarting emotional dynamics and a heated invitation to engage in the film's discourse on the shortcoming of sexual politics and justice in a media-saturated land. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Mamet's graceful, reverent movie adaptation moves along with a deliberating, almost hypnotic flow, strengthened by impeccable, dignified performances from Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon and others. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Mamet's dialogue is still on the mark, rapid-fire, and as cutting as an antique straight razor. Read full review
90
NewsweekAndrea C. Basora
The result is a film of rare restraint and surprising power. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneJohn Petrakis
A pleasure to watch and also serves as a reminder of a time when "right over might" was at the core of a powerful country's credo. [28 May 1999, Tempo, p.5]
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Hell has not yet frozen over, but here's something equally unexpected: David Mamet has made a G-rated movie for adults.
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
David Mamet has adapted and directed Terence Rattigan's 1946 play, which was based on a true story, with a fidelity so profound that one doesn't know whether to be amazed or depressed by it. Read full review
70
Washington PostRita Kempley
The case is tried off-screen. Thank goodness for the maid (Sarah Flind), who runs home from her chores with tidings from the outside world -- we hear from the maid that Sir Bobby gave a helluva final argument. The jurors wept, the crowd went wild. Too bad we missed it. Read full review
More From This Movie

79 Critic Reviews

7.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL