I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
This has got to be up there as one of my all-time favourites. The characters are portrayed amazingly, and every line is overbrimming with wit. honestly, I have watched this 4 times in 5 days and wanting to watch it again tomorrow!! And even if it WASN"T an incredible film, I'd still watch it just to hear Samuel Barnett's beautiful voice.
But I was the only one to really enjoy it....the others thought it was "all right"....
As a prudish male of 75, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Not least because it is one which is so 'English' as to be incomprehensible to Americans, and impossible for them to make. If a little stereotyped, and I don't admit it was, never irritatingly so. In fact, the sparkling originality (of treatment, not theme) of the film mirrors that of the teachers' methods. No cheap humour, prat-falls, or custard-pie humour. The homosexual scene involving Irwin and Dakin near the end is neither funny, shocking, nor relevant, and in my opinion should be cut - it destroys the carefully built up sense of credibility of the rest. It is disappointing but predictable that a film of such quality and courage, the audiences are scant and aged. Another small criticism is the choice of WWI and II for the students' profundity of discussion - 'scholarly new angles' to them are very old hat to those in the audience who have firsthand experience of them; it might have been wiser to have picked Agincourt or Trafalgar. It's a long while since my experience of high-school, and it was never like that, but the fine construction, directing and acting well succeeds in imparting realism to a difficult combination of intellectual humour and fantasy. John
I found this movie a challenge...it was a challenge to continue sitting there and keep watching it! Being a Mothers Day event I felt that it was only courteous to do so...but , oh, what a disappointment this film was. The plot, dialogue and screenplay was swimming laboriously, in its own meaningless, lumpy cerebral stodge. One-dimensional, cardboard cut-out characters that did nothing but reinforce negative stereotypes. What a sorry and sad lot teachers apparently are, especially male ones with covert and inappropriate desires that (would that they could) unleash and reveal their true predatory nature! It was disturbing to have this cliched representation of a man's vocation that was not about a love of learning or academic rivalry even. Not one, but two homosexual teachers whose main agenda was having a "crush" on the main leader of the apparent learned group of students. Where was the passion for education of these young minds that (script willingly) seemed quite learned enough? It was surprising to see the students as willing pillion passengers on the morbidly obese and repellent Hectors bike so he could have an inimate moment with their genitals, to moments in the classroom (and outside it) with these teachers, where not only smoking was permitted at a "theatrical" role-play level, but also the removal of Dakin's trousers...to the delight no doubt of the lecherous Hector and also the other student in the group that harboured feelings for this popular boy. Added to this disappointment is that all the "new strategies" that Irwin could impart to these boys was anarchic thinking re the history books, while he too, surprise, surprise, has secret lusting for Dakin. Dakin at any rate had a moment of anarchy with his own sexuality offering himself to his teacher although he wasn't "that way inclined"! Enough already, Bennett! There certainly was no chemistry between these two characters that preceded this redundant ploy. The only enlivening moment to pick up the tardy pace was the occasional excerpt on the film's soundtrack of 80s music which I found to be the best part of the film, cajoling me into wakefulness. No hidden depths here. Just an self-indulgent script that Bennett should have left on the stage, or preferably in his own head, for good.
Slow, repetitive, boring outside of a couple of scenes. Very dissapointing after all of the good reviews.
Part school days nostalgia trip, part gay-themed drama Alan Bennett's The History Boys won endless awards when it hit The National Theatre. Cut'n'pasted to the big screen - same director, same cast - it's kept all its probing, comic smarts...
Equal parts drama, comedy, mystery, satire and spoof, this is a cracker. Do not miss it...
The film can't hide its stage origins, and in cutting almost an hour on the journey from stage to screen some resonance is lost. But Bennett's dialogue sparkles and skewers with killer wit. Dig in...
If you liked the play and the compelling ideas Bennett kicks around, the movie makes for an intellectually invigorating couple of hours...
The current of intellectual energy snapping through the ferociously engaging screen adaptation of Alan Bennett’s Tony Award-winning play feels like electrical brain stimulation...
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 25th Jan 2007.
Release date: January 25th 2007.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
