A grim and gripping story.
Comment
06/06/03
Rate this Movie 
Sweet Sixteen (2003)
98
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:82
Fresh:80
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.9/10
Consensus: A bleak, but heartbreaking coming-of-age tale that resonates with truth.
Theatrical Release:May 16, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $201,010
Synopsis: In the depressed Scottish town of Greenock, 15-year-old Liam (Martin Compston) anxiously awaits the release of his mother, Jean (Michelle Coulter), from prison. Kicked out of school, with only... [More]
Starring: Martin Compston, Michelle Coulter, Annmarie Fulton, William Ruane
Director: Ken Loach
Get This Movie
Reviews for Sweet Sixteen
Top CriticThe casting is impeccable, the dialogue raw and the impenetrable Glaswegian brogue is wisely translated with English subtitles.
06/06/03
Top CriticLoach and frequent writing partner Paul Laverty are not greatly growing here, but once again their integrity is sterling.
06/06/03
Resembles classics like Hawks' Scarface, Walsh's White Heat, and any of a handful of James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson gangster films.
06/06/03
A classic.
06/06/03
Top CriticMixes the bitter with the sweet and stays in the mind because it refuses to succumb to the cynicism that surrounds its protagonist.
06/05/03
Top CriticIt feels like the backstory behind half the world's wayward kids.
06/05/03
[A] working class tragedy of mythic proportions, bristling with the inchoate rage of an underclass that . . . wouldn't know how to look up even if it knew that it could
06/01/03
Compston's performance and the downer milieu, presented with appropriate paint-peeling profanity, are more than enough to keep an audience riveted and ultimately moved close to tears.
06/01/03
Despite the title, "Sweet Sixteen" is a more bitter than sweet tale of a 16-year-old boy trying to find happiness and stability in his home life -- even if the cost for it is more than he can afford.
05/30/03
There's a raw, uncensored power here -- in the film in general and in newcomer Compston in particular.
05/30/03
Top CriticAt once a well spun story, a poignant and moving character study, and an indictment of contemporary society's indifference to the plight of the underprivileged.
05/29/03
[I]t's a tough film to watch, but so well done.
05/27/03
Top CriticEmploying, as he's sometimes done in the past, a cast of mostly first-time film actors, Loach here whips up a sad but deeply engrossing tale of an adolescent Scottish lad's determination to salvage his unsavable family.
05/23/03
Confident, uncompromising and blisteringly realistic, Sweet Sixteen is a gritty and immediate film yet it goes right to the emotions.
05/22/03
Top CriticLoach may be best known for staunchly political films like Bread and Roses, but in many ways Sweet Sixteen is a throwback to his other pictures, grittier slice-of- life films like My Name Is Joe.
05/22/03
Top CriticIt has a humane grasp of the pleasures kids create even under hellish conditions and of their adaptive capacity to craft a life out of the materials available.
05/22/03
...better than anything mainstream that I have seen all year.
05/22/03
. . . a dark, heart-wrenching masterpiece from British director Ken Loach . . .
05/21/03
Sweet Sixteen is a gritty film directed by Ken Loach about the spiritual dynamics of hope in the life of a resourceful and brave teenager living in poverty in Glasgow, Scotland.
05/20/03
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox 
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Animated Oscar?
Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.
Scenic Routes
The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds