79
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThis is the kind of movie that literate viewers pine for, laced with gracefulness and wit.
- 88The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe 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.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSixty 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.
- 80The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinMamet'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.
- 80L.A. WeeklyJohn PattersonL.A. WeeklyJohn PattersonWhat'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.
- 75USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkIn the movie's high point, (Jeremy) Northam conducts an antagonistic interview with the boy, who eludes well-placed lawyerly traps.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannSan Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannA study in unexpressed emotion, but Mamet turns the flame so low that his film lacks the emotional payoff we expect.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliMamet 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.
- 70VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyVery English, very period and very polite.
- 50TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxHandsomely appointed and faultlessly acted, but no more alive than a well-dressed corpse.