--- title: "Boys Don't Cry: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/boys-dont-cry/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/boys-dont-cry" critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Boys Don't Cry (1999): what the critics said Critics' score 77 from 10 reviews: 9 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Boys Don’t Cry, praising its emotional force, strong performances and refusal to soften its violence or its romance. Hilary Swank receives much of the praise, while Chloë Sevigny is also singled out for subtle, affecting work. The Guardian judges Sevigny’s performance even stronger than Swank’s. The reviews repeatedly admire the film’s sympathetic treatment of Brandon and its raw small-town setting, finding tenderness and hope within an otherwise harrowing story. The spread is wide, though the disagreement comes chiefly from one negative review rather than an evenly divided response. Empire admires the acting and taut direction but finds the character backgrounds sparse and the running time slightly overlong. The Evening Standard rejects the central casting, finding Swank unconvincing and the film’s treatment of identity and romance awkward. That objection runs directly against the prevailing view that the performances make the story credible and emotionally involving. ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 October 1999. A terrific and fearless movie that embraces lyrical realism without exaggeration or avoidance, triumphing over long odds through emotional center and universal impulses. It brings off the life of small-town derelict poor with little condescension and captures euphoria, nobility, and catastrophe in a long tragic poem. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/10/18/boys-will-be-boys-3) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 22 October 1999. An exceptional and exceptionally disturbing film from a first-time director, unflinching and uncompromising in telling a passionate story about the price of dreams with universal resonances. Hilary Swank's astonishing, piercing performance makes audiences complicit in the agony and glee of the secret life on the edge. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-22-ca-24827-story.html) ## Sight and Sound — Xan Brooks Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). The critic praises the film's emotional resonance and lyrical ambiguity as a crime story, queer Western and romance, highlighting Hilary Swank and especially Chloë Sevigny's performances. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/317) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 7 April 2000. Bradshaw finds the film a gripping gender-reversal love story with violence and despair but also true romance and transcendence. He singles out Chloë Sevigny's performance as subtly outclassing even Hilary Swank's acclaimed turn. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/07/2) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 October 1999. The film brilliantly tells the resonant true story of Brandon Teena with inspirations from classic American crime dramas and tragedy, reaching beyond biography to illuminate many lives. It is full of hope despite moving toward disaster, thanks to an ensemble effort anchored by Hilary Swank's astonishing performance. [Read the review](http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/100199boys-film-review.html) ## Variety — Emanuel Levy Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 2 September 1999. A devastatingly powerful and audacious debut that mixes fiction and nonfiction astutely in a multilayered tale inspired by literary journalism and rural sagas, anchored by fully realized performances. It is bold and uncompromising, a breath of fresh air with stunning accomplishment in every department. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/boys-don-t-cry-1117752076/) ## Time Out — TCh Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 7 January 2015. The review calls the film grimly compelling and notes its focus on strong acting, especially Hilary Swank's Oscar-winning performance, which anchors the story of transgression and retribution. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/boys-dont-cry) ## Empire — Mark Dinning Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The film is a bleak and uncompromising true story that proves harrowing thanks to strong performances and taut direction, though it suffers from sparse character backgrounds and a slightly overlong runtime. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/boys-cry-review/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). The story is discomforting but the film is unconvincing due to inexperience and miscasting of Swank, who cannot credibly pass as the required type of boy; it awkwardly tries to both agonise over transvestism and romanticise a lesbian relationship. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/boys-don-t-cry-7433928.html) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Rating ★★★★. 19 January 2001. Peirce has taken a newspaper story and given it style, with sympathies firmly with Brandon. Swank and Sevigny deliver strong performances in a raw small-town setting where ignorance destroys feelings. [Read the review](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/boys-dont-cry-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/boys-dont-cry.md