Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
86
(32 sources)
86
(32 sources)
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100
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100
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100
Los Angeles Times
An exceptional--and exceptionally disturbing--film from a first-time director and writer (with Andy Bienen) named Kimberly Pierce. Unflinching, uncompromising, made with complete conviction and rare skill. Read Full Review » -
100
Austin Chronicle
An amazing work, a film that seems to gurgle up from the American heartland, resonant and fully formed, ripe with possibilities. Read Full Review » -
100
Charlotte Observer
For a movie that ends in the profoundest depths of sadness, Boys Don't Cry contains one of the year's purest moments of joy. Read Full Review » -
100
Boston Globe
"In Cold Blood," "Badlands," "The Executioner's Song," and now, joining those grisly milestones on the heartland hit list, and every bit their equal, is Boys Don't Cry. Read Full Review » -
100
Entertainment Weekly
It's Swank, however, who's the revelation. By the end, her Brandon/Teena is beyond male or female. It's as if we were simply glimpsing the character's soul, in all its yearning and conflicted beauty. Read Full Review » -
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
A radically disturbing and memorable movie whose images don't easily fade or diminish in power. Read Full Review » -
90
Variety
The poignant and candid Boys Don't Cry can be seen as a "Rebel Without a Cause" for these culturally diverse and complex times, with the two misfit girls enacting a version of the James Dean/Natalie Wood romance with utmost conviction. Read Full Review » -
90
The New York Times
Stunning...a film much tougher and more transfixing than its wan title. Read Full Review » -
90
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90
Washington Post
The longest, hardest sit of the season -- you are stuck there, a single tube of puckered muscle, waiting for the extremely ugly violence to occur -- but it is driven by performances of such luminous humanity that they break your heart. Read Full Review » -
88
New York Post
A haunting, superbly made film. But it's also an unrelentingly sad and depressing experience. Read Full Review » -
88
Miami Herald
A remarkable movie that merits a place alongside "The Executioner's Song" and "In Cold Blood" as an unforgettable depiction of tragedy in the heartland. Read Full Review » -
88
USA Today
A weeper poised to endure as one of the dominant independent features of the year. Read Full Review » -
88
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88
New York Daily News
A powerful, deeply moving tale, immeasurably facilitated by the performance of relatively unknown Hilary Swank as Brandon...smartly shot and edited, and the performances are dead-on. Read Full Review » -
88
Philadelphia Inquirer
To say this bone-chilling, gut-turning feature is "The Crying Game"-meets-"In Cold Blood." But this is a film - writer/director Peirce's first - that matches those pictures in power, in surprise, and in unnerving drama. Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Tribune
A stirring, emotionally true testament to foolish bravery as well as shameful evidence of the severity with which it is so often punished. Read Full Review » -
83
Portland Oregonian
A kick to the heart, and Swank is a marvel. Any problems in the storytelling are more than balanced by her wholly committed work. Read Full Review » -
80
Dallas Observer
That's possibly Peirce's best trick of all, telling a true story so well that you can't remember how it ends. And when you remember, you hope that you were wrong. Read Full Review » -
80
Chicago Reader
A powerful piece of social protest, skillfully written, directed, and acted...Hilary Swank as Brandon and Chloe Sevigny as his girlfriend Lana are especially fine. Read Full Review » -
80
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80
Rolling Stone
A shockingly intimate and deeply affecting film about the roots of sexual role playing. Read Full Review » -
80
Salon.com
Gripping, and it's moving, but it isn't particularly subtle. There's a strong thread of tabloid drama running through its core -- but at least it's sensationalistic storytelling with a heart. Read Full Review » -
80
Film.com
To watch Sevigny's Lana slowly thaw to Brandon is to see the transformative, heartbreaking power of romance in a way that Hollywood is rarely able to capture anymore. Read Full Review » -
75
Christian Science Monitor
Swank gives one of the year's most complex and hard-hitting performances in the demanding central role. Read Full Review » -
70
LA Weekly
Free of the disclaiming jokey sneer that defaces so much of contemporary neo-noir. Read Full Review » -
70
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65
TNT RoughCut
It's essentially a play-by-play of events that's so cheaply made it reeks of made-for-TV status. Read Full Review » -
63
Baltimore Sun
Too sketchy about her protagonist's interior life, and too fast and loose with the details of this story, to make much of an impact beyond its initial shock. Read Full Review » -
40
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