A moving coming of age story that canvasses faith and family, The December Boys reminds us why our childhoods often hold the key to our heart.
Comment
09/06/07
December Boys (2007)
43
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:65
Fresh:28
Rotten:37
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: Uneventful and far too sentimental.
Synopsis: Based on the novel by Michael Noonan, DECEMBER BOYS is a touching coming-of-age drama set in Australia in the 1960s. Maps (Daniel Radcliffe), Misty (Lee Cormie), Sparks (Christian Byers), and Spit... [More]
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, James Fraser
Director: Rod Hardy
Reviews for December Boys
Top CriticClick to read the article
09/28/07
Top CriticBased on a novel by Michael Noonan, this sentimental tale of Australian orphans coming of age by the seaside has little to distinguish it except for the presence of Daniel Radcliffe.
09/11/07
There is no magic in Daniel Radcliffe's first non-Potter movie: it's an incredible clunker: naff, sentimental, like an episode of the treacly US TV show The Wonder Years.
09/14/07
Top CriticThe absence of a seasoned lead figure is a decisive flaw, with the same to be said about the writing. The religious inserts only make it blasphemous to the gods of cinema.
09/10/07
An engrossing Australian film about four orphans whose deep bonds of friendship are tested during a summer vacation in paradise.
09/14/07
The two halves of December Boys -- the pre-adolescent getting of wisdom and the adolescent getting of action -- never mesh.
09/21/07
A coming-of-age tale so treacly it doesn’t just tug your heartstrings, it attempts to glue them to your ribs.
09/15/07
Top CriticDirector Rod Hardy musters his fine cast to provide a nuanced story...about coming of age, friendship, old age and young love.
09/20/07
With a strongly emotional tone, this low-key Australian coming-of-age drama is beautifully filmed and acted. Although it does lay on the nostalgia rather thickly.
09/14/07
Enhanced by an exotic locale, the movie overcomes a well-trodden narrative path and unflinchingly brandishes its sentimentality as it stakes out its crowd-pleasing territory.
09/14/07
Top CriticThere seem to be two movies going on here at the same time, and December Boys would have been better off going all the way with one of them.
09/21/07
Top CriticVisually well-mounted but narratively muddled.
09/13/07
Top CriticDaniel Radcliffe indicates he may be able to shake off Harry Potter in this amiable little drama.
09/14/07
This charming tale of a quartet of Australian orphans who share a life-altering holiday in the 1960s should appeal to sentimental adults old enough to wax nostalgic over their own adolescence.
09/14/07
December Boys is good, but not great; and as far as coming of age stories are concerned.
09/14/07
The film squanders its rich sense of adolescent discovery with an undercurrent of sexism and the uninteresting ebb and flow of water-logged metaphor.
09/09/07
Well-intentioned, but teeth-grindingly earnest, with a voice-over that seems to consist entirely of clichés.
09/14/07
Radcliffe -- in full benevolent leadership -- clearly has a future as a young adult performer once he shelves Harry Potter's wand once and for all.
09/14/07
December Boys bathes in the summer sun and sea breezes even as it exudes the energy of youth and promise.
09/17/07
Latest News for December Boys
December 11, 2007:
RT on DVD: Take Harry Potter, Jason Bourne Home for the Holidays
This week, get Bourne (The Bourne Ultimatum) -- or get Potter (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), or Efron (High School Musical 2), or opt for a different sort of... More...
September 16, 2007:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Jodie Struggles But Still Hits #1
For the second straight weekend, a star-driven action drama aimed at adult audiences opened at number one with $14M in ticket sales from roughly 2,700 theaters. This time it was... More...
September 13, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Brave One Isn't Tops, Mr. Woodcock is Flaccid, Hunting Party is Busted
This week at the movies, we've got vigilantes (The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster), gym teachers (Mr. Woodcock starring Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon), war... More...
August 25, 2007:
Preview and images. 
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