69
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasThe look and feel of the film is entirely beguiling. It is deliberately not a period piece, heavy with dated styles and fads, but instead evokes a sense of timelessness.
- 88New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsOne of the most inventive, funny and ultimately tragic coming-of-age movies in years.
- 80Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanHas marked affinities to "Ghost World" and "Donnie Darko." It's more amorphous and less sharply drawn than either but has an acute sense of guilty secrets and secret places.
- 70L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonThe British music-video director Peter Care (making his feature debut) and screenwriters Jeff Stockwell and Michael Petroni have retained much of the wry, teen-wise dialogue from the late Chris Fuhrman's cult-hit novel, while giving his story arc a fuller, more rounded shape.
- 70VarietyDavid RooneyVarietyDavid RooneyThe film's chief shortcoming is perhaps its failure to convey a stronger, more atmospheric sense of the repressive 1970s Catholic school environment that breeds the titular boys' rebellion and wild flights of fancy.
- 63Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisLike watching somebody else's flashback and wondering what you were doing then instead.
- 60New Times (L.A.)Luke Y. ThompsonNew Times (L.A.)Luke Y. ThompsonGive Care and McFarlane points for trying to do something innovative with the same old thing. But realize that, as spruced up as the facade may be, this movie is indeed still the same old thing.
- 60SalonStephanie ZacharekSalonStephanie ZacharekUndone by simply trying too hard.
- 60SlateDavid EdelsteinSlateDavid EdelsteinThe movie says that the rebellious spirit that generates art can also consume and destroy -- that there's no undangerous way to ride the tiger.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt's all way too heavy-handed, though nicely acted by Hirsch, Culkin, and, especially, Jena Malone.