Young Adam
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 16, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The clammy power of Young Adam lies as much in the frank, emotional nakedness the actors bring to their roles under Mackenzie's care as in the baroque hopelessness of the plot. Read full review
90
Film ThreatRich Cline
This is a finely crafted film for grown-ups only ... and it's hard to remember the last time we had one that was this provocative and moving. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's a movie drama with a surface so bleak and an interior so hot with eroticism that it twists your guts to watch it. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is an almost Dostoyevskian study of a man brooding upon evil until it paralyzes him. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
All of the promise that was evident in Scottish helmer David Mackenzie's flawed freshman feature, "The Last Great Wilderness" (2002), is richly achieved in his second pic, Young Adam, a resonant, beautifully modulated relationships drama. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyJohn Powers
The movie is another showcase for the underappreciated McGregor, who disappears into his character so discreetly that, even as his face lets us track Joe's every thought, you never feel you’re watching a Performance. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Those seeking a spiritual counterpart to the yin of Lynne Ramsay's masterfully moody "Morvern Callar" will find their yang in David Mackenzie's exquisitely sorrowful Young Adam. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Despite the flashback structure, this is a film in which mood matters more than plot, while the hero's heroic stature steadily shrinks. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
The film is set in post-WWII Scotland, but its tone and its telling are so stark, so Medieval, that it seems anachronistic when one of its characters picks up a telephone or plays a bebop jazz record. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Darkly effective, and its grip lasts longer than we might be entirely comfortable with. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Rich atmospherics and an all-star British cast make this a superior melodrama if you can handle the heavy-breathing sex scenes. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
This movie is so much the opposite of uplifting that you think Gary Oldman ought to be in it. But it's honestly made, and its second half does linger in the memory. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Besides terrific performances, it boasts terrific cinematography by Giles Nuttgens that contrasts stunningly beautiful and grimly ugly Scottish landscapes - complementing the hunky Joe's ugly soul, which manifests itself in a truly nasty sex scene involving pudding, catsup and Cathie. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
It’s rich enough in atmosphere to make you almost buy the quasi-allegorical absurdities. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Tilda Swinton's rich, compelling performance is reason enough to see this uneven picture, which devolves from a riveting romantic triangle to a morality tale without a moral center. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Also quite fine is the film's musical score from David Byrne, as unsettling and edgy as the story. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Not so much a thriller as an exploration of one man's crumbling moral compass. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Doesn't quite know how to take its leave; it tapers off like a curling cigarette trail, but it lingers like a ghost. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
In this long, slow fall from grace, unceremonious nudity and half-hearted sex begin to look like a mockery of a paradise lost. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
MacGregor demonstrates just how far he's come as an actor. Swinton, meanwhile, adds another notch to a resume already crowded with good performances. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Mackenzie has greatly tempered the story's brutality the old-fashioned way: He puts an appealing, sympathetic star at the center and surrounds him with beautiful visuals, with a darkly contrasting color palette of bruising black and blue. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
There are movies that are important, and then there are movies that simply look and act as if they're important. With its arthouse cast, hipster credentials and ominous atmosphere, Young Adam never bothers to reach for real significance. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Unfolds with an absolute minimum of dramatic highs and lows, and it's so disaffected that it prompts laughter at the wrong moments. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
All the actors give performances so low-key they're almost minimalist. That works, except when we're supposed to believe every woman would throw herself at the closed-off Joe. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The narrative scheme, the brooding period atmosphere, the understated score (by David Byrne) and the precision of the acting also make the story seem more interesting than it is. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Presents itself as tragedy with the insensitive Joe as its tragic hero, but Joe's fantasies of artistic rebellion and individualism have rotted into simple, solipsistic selfishness. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Tepid. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKaren Karbo
In this moody, claustrophobic almost-thriller -- the pacing is as sluggish as the Scottish canals that serve as its setting. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's a diversion, well crafted by Mackenzie from a book by Alexander Trocchi, but little more than that. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
A compelling if singularly sour tale. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In the Scotland of Young Adam, love is getting dragged through the mud. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Suffers from a lifelessness that seems built into the terse, slightly detached style of the director, David Mackenzie, who also did the adaptation.
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