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09/24/09
The Boys Are Back (2009)
72
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:81
Fresh:58
Rotten:23
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Great performances by Clive Owen and The Boys save this melodrama from entering into the sappy territory it might have in less competent hands.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating]
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Sep 25, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $783,013
Synopsis: Inspired by a true story, THE BOYS ARE BACK is a deeply moving, wryly confessional tale of fatherhood, that intimately evokes both the fragility and wonders of family life. It follows a witty,... [More]
Starring: Clive Owen, Laura Fraser, Nicholas Macanulty, Julia Blake
Director: Scott Hicks
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Reviews for The Boys Are Back
The problem is that the movie always takes the easy way, scattering a few heavy, confrontational scenes among acres of picturesque montages.
09/25/09
Top CriticIt has the same understanding of male emotions as a Nick Hornby bestseller and could be that rare warmhearted weepie with an appeal that spans the genders and generations.
10/14/09
Honesty defines the performances. The happiest possible ending here and in real life is that people keep going forward no matter how hard it hurts.
09/27/09
It's the two boys, young George Mackay and younger Nicholas McAnulty who walk away with the acting honours in astonishingly mature and controlled performances
11/05/09
So ravishing [looking], actually, that it severely diminishes the emotional beats of the narrative. How mopey can you be when you've got wallabies on your veranda?
10/01/09
An affecting blend of warm comedy and high pathos, The Boys Are Back brings an unusual all-male perspective to its otherwise familiar themes of domesticity, death and dysfunction.
10/30/09
A somewhat unfocused and convoluted drama that's buoyed by beautiful scenery and, most effectively, by Clive Owen's well-nuanced, charismatic and endearing performance.
09/29/09
The Boys Are Back is a bit like the parenting it portrays -- at times there is pain, mistakes will be made, but if you can get beyond that, there is pleasure to be found.
09/25/09
If The Boys Are Back takes some emotional shortcuts, it still manages to convey some of the more mystifying aspects of parenthood.
10/14/09
Director Hicks keeps the cliches under control in this treacly tale of a man struggling to be a single father.
10/09/09
Bland, uneventful and going in circles for most of its second half, The Boys are Back never really gets to the point.
10/01/09
A hairs-breadth thumbs down; Owen's trademark tousled charm carries stretches of too-loose widower's tale The Boys Are Back, but otherwise overly familiar dramatic plotting elicits lukewarm positive feelings at best.
09/24/09
Carr's original anecdotes don't supply much storyline, so Hicks spans the gaps with golden-lit montages set to Sigur Rós. They're a great advertisement for Australian vacations. And vasectomies.
09/23/09
Joe says in a voice-over that "life is a journey to be traveled no matter how bad the road." And The Boys Are Back is a highly satisfying ride.
10/31/09
It manages to veer from touching to humorous (Warr has some rather unconventional parenting techniques) without being overly mawkish, and the sumptuous cinematography by Greig Fraser is perhaps the best commercial ever for South Australia.
10/09/09
At first, the Australian Boys seems to be one of those annoying, isn't-it-noble-how-the-single-dad-keeps-it-together movies, but it's more interesting than that.
10/09/09
The content of Allan Cubitt's script, based on Simon Carr's memoir, is meaty and straightforward, which gives it an unexpected power.
09/23/09
Top CriticThis lovely and emotionally resonant film about a family shattered by grief deserves better than a forgettably glib title that conjures up images of beer brawls or gangster affiliations.
09/25/09
Has there been a better film about single fatherhood than The Boys Are Back? None that I recall.
10/08/09
Latest News for The Boys Are Back
November 09, 2009:
Scott Hicks Talks The Boys Are Back
RT talks to director Scott Hicks as his latest film, 'The Boys Are Back', starring Clive Owen, opens in Australian cinemas. More...
September 24, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Surrogates Is A Passable Thriller
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