Boys (1996)
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15% of critics liked it
(26 reviews) -
27% of users liked it
(4,517 ratings)
Boys is a coming-of-age tale about an addled prep school student who nurses a woman back to health after an accident and becomes involved in her cryptic past. John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas) is a tormented high school senior outcast who's weary of his upper-crust boarding school life and dreads his… More Boys is a coming-of-age tale about an addled prep school student who nurses a woman back to health after an accident and becomes involved in her cryptic past. John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas) is a tormented high school senior outcast who's weary of his upper-crust boarding school life and dreads his future as a supermarket chain manager. When he finds Patty Vare (Winona Ryder) unconscious in a field after being thrown from a horse, Baker sees this as an opportunity to break out of his humdrum existence, and he smuggles her into the school to take care of her. The relationship blooms into a somewhat bizarre love affair, as John discovers that Patty is concealing a mysterious secret involving a missing baseball player and a stolen car. Although the film takes a little time to get started, what originates as an analysis of guarded youths making foolish judgments evolves into a celebration of adolescent insurrection. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Directed By
- Stacy Cochran
- Genres
- Drama
PG-13,
- In Theaters
- May 10, 1996 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
As vague and unfocused as its title.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
The actors do a nice job of investing it all with a certain conviction, and there's a fairy-tale tinge to some of the action that gives it a certain charm.
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Desson Thomson, Washington Post
The movie's not helped at all by Ryder, who seems uncomfortable playing femme fatale to these grimy-fingered boys, as if she doesn't believe anyone could feel this adulative about her.
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Trevor Johnston, Time Out
Writer/director Cochran is stronger on capturing the texture surrounding her characters' converging experiences than making much of it when they do get together.
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Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
A first-rate example of good actors stuck in a bad movie.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Winona Ryder
as Patty Vare
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Lukas Haas
as John Baker Jr.
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Skeet Ulrich
as Buddy Valentine
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John C. Reilly
as Officer Kellogg Curry
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Bill Sage
as Bill Martone
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Wiley Wiggins
as John Phillips
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Chris Cooper
as Mr. John Baker
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Maddie Corman
as Liz Curry
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Angela Hall
as Officer Julie Leroux
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Jessica Harper
as Mrs. John Baker
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Catherine Keener
as Jilly
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James LeGros
as Fenton Ray
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Matt Malloy
as Bartender
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Bob Moore
as Officer Darryl Cane
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Christopher Pettiet
as Jon Heinz
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Vivienne Shub
as Frances
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John Fitzpatrick
as Steve Hunt
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Charlie Hofheimer
as John Cooke
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David Newsom
as Curt
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Spencer Vrooman
as John Murphy
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Rob Carlton
as Tom Vare
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John Reeves
as Phil Rains Esq.
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Carter McNeese
as Floor Waxer
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James Gardiner
as Kellogg Curry Jnr
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Cheryl Goode
as Beer Girl
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Marty McDonough
as Teacher
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David Paulson
as Lieutenant Love
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Gregorio Rosenblum
as Dr. Paz
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Miranda Syp
as Ellen Vare
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Russell Young
as John Van Slieder
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Andy Davis
as Jonathan Marco
