A Boy Called Dad (2009)

Critic Reviews

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  Starts confidently, before panicking itself into potty melodrama.

• Derek Malcolm, This is London

  A sympathetic study of confusion, heartache and despair.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  Julie Rutterford's well-observed script has a lively wit, the rainswept seaside sets are atmospheric and the cast are beyond reproach but once they part company from credibility the film's spell is broken.

• Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

  Sabotages any dramatic credibility with clunky scripting and increasingly preposterous plot twists.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  A well-intentioned look at masculinity and fatherhood.

• Tom Seymour, Little White Lies

  Shot adroitly, and combining Leone-esque close-ups with long tracking shots of the various urban and rural locations, the film prioritises the ambiguity of emotional ties over expository melodrama.

• Ross Bennett, Empire Magazine

  Powerful and affecting.

• Leo Robson, Financial Times

  The film has a nicely desolate air and some sweet bonding between the two Dads. But having avoided the threat of sentimentality, the film falls prey, in its latter stages, to silliness.

• Jeremy Aspinall, Radio Times

  There's just not enough substance to this tale of two fathers. It's a pity, as the leads both give fine performances.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  A Boy Called Dad is something of a disappointment, despite a promising set-up and strong performances from Ian Hart and Kyle Ward.

Read all 10 critic reviews