The Boys Are Back Critic Reviews

In less capable hands, the movie could have been maudlin. Instead, Hicks and Owen have created an intimate drama told with humor and emotion.Read the full review

This is polished yet authentically moving.Read the full review

Few films have so poignantly portrayed a father's relationships with his sons as The Boys Are Back.Read the full review

Owen, in a heartfelt, award-caliber performance, never goes soft. It's his core of toughness that makes the movie so funny, touching and vital.Read the full review

The Boys Are Back is a bit like the parenting it portrays -- at times there is pain, mistakes will be made, but if you can get beyond that, there is pleasure to be found.Read the full review

With those piercing eyes, Owen makes a lovely, soulful Joe, of course. But it's not the nice papa we want to understand here, it's the unapologetically naughty one.Read the full review

Tidily arranges its raw feelings about fathering and manhood into a decent, intelligent melodrama meant to soothe audiences and provoke no one.Read the full review

Clive Owen can be a likable actor, but the character is working against him...And please, please, give us a break from the scenes where the ghost of the departed turns up and starts talking as if she's not dead.Read the full review

Hicks has made a technically adept film, but one that, for all of its strong acting and vivid photography, left me less moved than I should have been.Read the full review