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Black Irish (2007)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

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61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 1,597

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Movie Info

A young man struggles to grow up with principles as his family begins to self-destruct around him in this coming of age drama. Cole McKay (Michael Angarano) is a boy in his middle-teens growing up in an Irish-Catholic family in Boston. While Cole has dreams of playing major league baseball some day, his parents Desmond (Brendan Gleeson) and Margaret (Melissa Leo) are blind to his ambitions, and his older brother Terry (Tom Guiry) is a petty criminal who is unwittingly drawing Cole into his

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Drama

Brad Gann

Jan 8, 2008

Anywhere

Cast

All Critics (13) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (9) | DVD (2)

While the film has many well-observed moments...it ultimately suffers from its relentless piling on of crises.

December 3, 2007 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Black Irish boasts many memorable scenes and fine characterizations but ultimately plays more like a series of snapshots come to life than as an organically satisfying story.

October 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A small-bore Southie coming-of-age drama whose heart is just a bit bigger than its cliches.

October 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film draws strength from sensitively scrutinizing character, but tends to confuse Catholic guilt with narrative redemption.

January 6, 2008 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Irish coming-of-age Beantown drama reminiscent of Angela's Ashes, especially in terms of maintaining a relentlessly pessimistic and morose tone.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Could almost be labeled a Gaelic minstrel show, so riddled is it with every conceivable cliché and stereotype ever associated with the sons of Eire.

October 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

It'll be worth watching to see if [director Brad Gann] plays to his strengths on future projects.

October 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Metromix.com | Comment
Metromix.com

The problem with Black Irish is that, like those photos shifted to cover the holes, not everything is hanging in quite the right place here.

October 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine

Gleeson inhabits the character in such a way that one cannot help but wonder how many Irish fathers like this he has personally known.

October 25, 2007 Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | Comment

It's too sincere and thoughtful to be immediately dismissed. But it is terribly frustrating viewing: so much time and creative energy spent making a movie that, in one form or another, the audience has already seen.

October 25, 2007 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | Comment
L.A. Weekly

A drismal drama rather reminiscent of Angela's Ashes, especially in terms of maintaining a relentlessly pessimistic and morose tone.

October 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Leader Newspapers, New Jersey | Comment
Leader Newspapers, New Jersey

The difficulties of coming-of-age in an Irish-American family with a violent older brother and a self-destructive father.

October 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice

Writer-director-producer Brad Gann's tale of growing up in blue-collar South Boston features a strong central performance, but it doesn't miss a cliche of hardscrabble adolescence.

October 5, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The blarney isn't the only thing that's thick in writer-director Brad Gann's Black Irish.

September 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Black Irish

Michael Angarano, Brendan Gleeson, Tom Gulry, Melissa Leo, Emily VanCamp, Michael Rispoli, Francis Capra DIRECTED BY BRAD GANN Wow. This movie was not at all what I was expecting. it was much better then what I had anticipated. I thought it was just going to be based around baseball and I was really wrong. Although

February 1, 2010
LWOODS04
♥˩ƳИИ ƜѲѲƉƧ♥

Super Reviewer

Bravo! Loved it!!! Michael Angarano was great in here. This movie made me laugh and cry...lovely film.

August 16, 2008
LitelBluHli
Nani V

Super Reviewer

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