Boyhood (2014)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Epic in technical scale but breathlessly intimate in narrative scope, Boyhood is a sprawling investigation of the human condition.
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Cast
as Mason
as Mom
as Dad
as Samantha
as Tommy
as Ted
as Teacher
as Elementary School Girl
as Grandma
as Professor Bill Welbrock
as Mindy
as Randy
as Neighborhood Friend #1
as Neighborhood Friend #2
as Paul
as Book Trivia Judge
as Book Release Emcee
as Jimmy
as Barber
as Mason's 4th Grade Teacher
as Liquor Store Clerk
as Carol
as Lee
as Abby
as Kenny
as Mrs. Darby
as No Obama Man
as Obama Mama
as Tammy
as Tony
as Bully 1
as Bully 2
as Jill
as Jim
as College Girl Singer
as Gabi
as Chase
as Charlie
as Charlie's Friend
as Professor Douglas
as Make Out Girl
as Annie
as Cooper
as Enrique
as Grandpa Cliff
as Nana
as Pastor
as Mr. Turlington
as Nick
as Beer Pong Guy
as High School Band Singer
as Sheena
as April
as Mason's Boss
as Sam's College Boyfriend
as Hooper
as Guitar Player
as Beat Box
as Band Member 1
as Band Member 2
as Band Member 3
as Band Member 4
as Guy in Diner
as Sam's Roommate
as High School Teacher
as Uncle Steve
as Twin Cousin 1
as Twin Cousin 2
as Woman at Party
as Jimmy's Bandmate 1
as Jimmy's Bandmate 2
as Jimmy's Bandmate 3
as Dalton
as Barb
as Nicole
as Nick
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Critic Reviews for Boyhood
All Critics (274) | Top Critics (56) | Fresh (268) | Rotten (6)
We can quibble with small stuff in Boyhood. Supporting performances are variable, the sister drops out as a dramatic character ... I could go on. But the cumulative power is tremendous.
While everything about Boyhood is done with extraordinary care, the master stroke was clearly the casting, 13 years ago, of a little Texas boy named Ellar Coltrane.
It's like a time-lapse photo of an expanding consciousness.
A word about the film's epic length. Boyhood is 166 minutes long. Yet it is so affecting, so much a thing of wonder, that it could run forever and I would still keep watching.
Linklater's casual hand at storytelling, dealing out reel after reel of naggingly forthright enlightenment, turns this simple tale of a mother trying to do her best into something worth every second of the time it took to produce.
Boyhood is proof that a strange magic can still bloom amidst the tragedy that buffets human life.
Audience Reviews for Boyhood
A charming drama that amuses and captivates the audience and takes them on a journey of growing up, love and heartbreak. Fantastic cast and beautifully done!
Super Reviewer
This movie takes a while to settle in with its grand scale yet tiny scope. There is a beginning, a middle and an end, that's almost the only way to sum up this movie. The acting and directing are good, but I would be lying if I said I didn't get bored at times during the nearly 3 hour runtime. Linklater makes very uneventful but thought provoking movies, and this is no exception. In the end however, I feel like there are better ways to spend 12 years of a directorial career.
Super Reviewer
After his parents divorce, a boy grows up in Texas. I really wanted to love this film; going into it, I was prepared to call it the best film of the year and maybe even the best film of the decade. After all, Richard Linklater accomplished a technical feat - making a major motion picture over twelve years - that has never been achieved in American cinema. And this kind of film is right up Linklater's alley, small-scale, human interest drama. However, the film never gets going. I kept wondering what the primary conflict was. Is it just growing up? Could that carry a three-hour film? Not really. And when Mason grows up to become an anti-establishment hipster, we see that Linklater returns to his familiar character types. In Linklater films, there are two characters: the sell-outs and the anti-establishment types, and when Mason starts spouting the normal Linklater speeches about the "over-determinedness" of modern life, I knew that the film was only an achievement of the technical variety, not a real expansion of his artistic palette. And while "anachronistic" is not the right word, there are numerous references to the flavor of the times in which the scenes were shot - Britney Spears songs and Harry Potter book signings - that work as the filmmakers winking at the audience and saying, "Look at what was hot during this time." The best performance in the film belongs to Patricia Arquette whose final moment is chillingly heart-breaking. Overall, if you know the backstory, Boyhood is a heck of a film, but if we just ignored that the film was shot over twelve years, it wouldn't be that much to write home about.
Super Reviewer
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