56
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickTasteful and gorgeously photographed coming-of-age story.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustLos Angeles TimesKevin CrustA refreshingly gentle treatment of familiar themes such as the inevitability of change, the dashing of youthful illusions and mutability of family. 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.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe film's dramatic moments are small but exquisitely rendered so that you feel the emotions experienced so many years ago. The film lingers afterward in your mind like a favorite vacation that triggered moments of sheer intensity.
- 67Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThe filmmakers can't decide whether to trust the period innocence of the book (and play down their casting coup) or let the young man rip as a preteen-babe magnet... So December Boys splits the difference -- safely, dully.
- 67The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinFor much of its duration, December is poignantly bittersweet, but the closing sugar rush washes its pleasing ambiguities away.
- 60EmpireEmpireMore Sunday afternoon filler than cinema sensation, it’s a perfectly pleasant drama, but you’ll struggle to remember it the next day.
- 60VarietyVarietyOccasionally touching but rarely convincing coming-of-ager.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoiceIf Daniel Radcliffe is hoping for an acting life after Harry Potter, he might want to be choosier than this cloying little Australian number.
- 40The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisA coming-of-age tale so treacly it doesn’t just tug your heartstrings, it attempts to glue them to your ribs.