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The Mudge Boy (2003)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 26
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 6

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

audience

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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 2,080

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Movie Info

Writer/director Michael Burke makes his feature-length debut with the coming-of-age drama The Mudge Boy. Known as a weird kid, Duncan Mudge (Emile Hirsch) is a na�ve 14-year-old farm boy with an aging father, Edgar (Richard Jenkins), and very little social life. When Duncan's mother suddenly dies, he develops a strange fascination with her clothes, speaks in her voice, and spends his time with his pet chicken. His father and the other people in the town just don't understand his behavior, while

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Drama

Directed By: Michael Burke

Written By: Michael Burke

In Theaters: Jan 17, 2003 Wide

On DVD: May 9, 2006

Strand Releasing

Cast

Emile Hirsch
Duncan
Tom Guiry
Perry Foley
Richard Jenkins
Edgar Mudge
Pablo Schreiber
Brent
Zachary Knighton
Travis
Ryan Donowho
Scotty
Meredith Handerhan
Tonya
Beckie King
April

Critic Reviews for The Mudge Boy

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (7) | DVD (3)

Condescending tone ... contrivance ... and clich�.

July 22, 2004 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News

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Matt Weitz

Dallas Morning News

Top Critic

Like a sturdy, well-observed short story, its narrative pieces put together with a plain elegance.

July 1, 2004 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Steve Murray

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Top Critic

The Mudge Boy is odd and intense, very well acted, and impossible to dismiss.

June 25, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Because the camera so closely follows Duncan -- there's scarcely a scene he's off-frame; his awkwardness is bold and unapologetic -- he sticks close to our sympathies.

June 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune

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Robert K. Elder

Chicago Tribune

Top Critic

A little picture -- the names of the entire cast would fit on half a sheet of paper -- but it's more heartfelt than movies with 50 times the budget.

June 4, 2004 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Ruthe Stein

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

It's not an easy film to watch, but it is a memorable one.

May 13, 2004 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger

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Lisa Rose

Newark Star-Ledger

Top Critic

Tender, touching and tragic ... it's also rewarding and redemptive.

March 27, 2005 Full Review Source: Internet Reviews

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Steve Rhodes

Internet Reviews

The seriousness is too often undercut by plot turns that are unintentionally risible...Hirsch and Jenkins are certainly the chief reasons to see it.

July 28, 2004 Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion

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Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

It may seem like just another movie about a boy and his father and the chicken that comes between them, but there's a heart-touching story underneath all the feathers.

July 24, 2004 Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com

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Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone

TheMovieChicks.com

You can hardly fault the details, the resonant silences, the sudden gushers of pent-up feeling.

July 2, 2004 Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

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David Elliott

San Diego Union-Tribune

Treads a well-traveled road and needs more than a chicken to be distinctive -- it needs a sense of transcendence, a reason to endure its sadness.

May 7, 2004 Full Review Source: Seattle Times

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Moira MacDonald

Seattle Times

Though more offbeat than it needs to be, Boy takes an unflinching look at a gentle spirit trapped in a macho, violent world.

May 7, 2004 Full Review Source: E! Online

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E! Online

This story must have been much more comfortable and rewarding to read on paper than it is to watch on screen.

May 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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William Arnold

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Mudge Boy

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A film quite unlike anything I've seen before, The Mudge Boy deserves a larger audience then it is ever likely to get, thanks to its peculiar title, cheap, 70s looking cover art and "funded by cable" credentials. But it's a stunning film. Duncan (Emile Hirsch) is a teenager trying to come to terms with the

May 20, 2007