RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / December Boys
December Boys

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

December Boys (2007)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
42 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:64

Fresh:27

Rotten:37

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Uneventful and far too sentimental.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content, nudity, underage drinking and smoking.

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Sep 14, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Michael Noonan, DECEMBER BOYS is a touching coming-of-age drama set in Australia in the 1960s. Maps (Daniel Radcliffe), Misty (Lee Cormie), Sparks (Christian Byers), and Spit... Based on the novel by Michael Noonan, DECEMBER BOYS is a touching coming-of-age drama set in Australia in the 1960s. Maps (Daniel Radcliffe), Misty (Lee Cormie), Sparks (Christian Byers), and Spit (James Fraser) are four best friends who live in a Catholic orphanage, hoping to be adopted but learning that dreams don't come true--and adults often let kids down. Because they were all born in December, they are the first group of boys who get to travel to a small cove and stay with an older couple, Bandy (Jack Thompson) and Skipper (Kris McQuade), two of the orphanage's benefactors who have offered to house the kids during the Christmas season. Once off on this rare vacation, the boys play in the sand and water, eat well, ride on a motorcycle, go to a carnival, and experience other new and exciting things as they quickly learn that there is more to the world than they ever imagined--and they get to meet some very strange characters in the process. But when Misty overhears that Teresa (Victoria Hill) and her husband, Fearless (Sullivan Stapleton), are considering adopting one of them, the battle is on--except for Maps, who is older than the others and instead spends his time with Lucy (Teresa Palmer), experiencing his first romance. Filmed in Adelaide and on Kangaroo Island and directed by longtime television veteran Rod Hardy, DECEMBER BOYS features beautiful locations, a talented cast, and a terrific soundtrack, including period songs by Norman Greenbaum ("Spirit in the Sky"), the Easybeats ("Friday on My Mind"), and Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Who'll Stop the Rain"). [More]

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, James Fraser

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, James Fraser, Jack Thompson

Director: Rod Hardy

Director: Rod Hardy
Screenwriter: Marc Rosenberg
Producer: Richard Becker
Composer: Carlo Giacco
Studio: Warner Independent

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Dec 11, 2007

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for December Boys

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peg Aloi
Peg Aloi
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: NPR.org | comment Comment
10/18/08
Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello
NPR.org

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

The coast of Australia is an apt setting for Rod Hardy's precious drama: It's Beaches for men.

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
02/22/08
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Fans and industry watchers who wonder whether Radcliffe has what it takes to turn his increasingly sophisticated performances in [Harry Potter] into a full-blown adult career as an actor... can see for themselves: the kid's got talent...

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
12/09/07
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Radcliffe is good at showing vulnerability but without the skills to give it gradation. The magic doesn't work for him this time.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
11/03/07
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Rod Hardy adds some whimsical touches to an otherwise cliche-filled story, but the young orphans never emerge as full-blooded characters.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
10/12/07
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Conflicted but well-acted.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
10/11/07
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

I was not charmed. I was not moved.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
10/08/07
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Pleasant but pedestrian.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
10/06/07
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

No reason to see it. No reason not to see it, either. Shrug.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
10/02/07
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Particularly for Radcliffe fans, it's an agreeable journey.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
09/28/07
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

A story line involving a crusty fisherman and a giant, fabled fish plays as unintentionally comic. Other moments are visually excessive.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
09/28/07
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
Sacramento Bee

...it's hard to argue with the movie's general good spirits.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
09/28/07
Mike Russell
Mike Russell
Oregonian
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
09/28/07
Sydney Morning Herald

Sometimes the hardest movies to review are the ones that are middle-of-the-road, bland and completely uninspiring, movies like December Boys.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
09/27/07
Andy Spletzer
Andy Spletzer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sweet--indeed, cloying--coming-of-age tale...the barrage of messages it carries ultimately proves too heavy a cargo.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
09/24/07
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

There is nothing on display in the coming-of-age drama December Boys that you haven’t already seen dozens of times before.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/24/07
Peter Sobczynski
Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com

"December Boys" is a minor ensemble melodrama that succeeds for the heartfelt efforts of its ensemble.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
09/23/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

There seem to be two movies going on here at the same time, and December Boys would have been better off going all the way with one of them.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
09/21/07
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
all

Latest News for December Boys

December 11, 2007: RT on DVD: Take Harry Potter, Jason Bourne Home for the Holidays
This week, get Bourne (The Bourne Ultimatum) -- or get Potter (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), or Efron (High School Musical 2), or opt for a different sort of... More...

September 16, 2007: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Jodie Struggles But Still Hits #1
For the second straight weekend, a star-driven action drama aimed at adult audiences opened at number one with $14M in ticket sales from roughly 2,700 theaters. This time it was... More...

September 13, 2007: Critical Consensus: Brave One Isn't Tops, Mr. Woodcock is Flaccid, Hunting Party is Busted
This week at the movies, we've got vigilantes (The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster), gym teachers (Mr. Woodcock starring Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon), war... More...

August 25, 2007: Preview and images. Opens in new window
More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…
19% 19% Transformers: Revenge …
55% 55% Orphan
43% 43% The Proposal
26% 26% Land of the Lost

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
37% 37% G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
14% 14% I Love You, Beth Cooper
97% 97% Food, Inc.
28% 28% Aliens in the Attic

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

What’s Hot On RT

Friday Harvest

Friday Harvest

The week's best pics, videos, and posters!

New Clips!

New Clips!

Explore The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus!

2012

2012

Major havoc in these new clips!

George Clooney

George Clooney

The critics pick their top 10 Clooney movies!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear
69
  • J.J. Abrams Producing Micronauts Movie? Source: Wall Street Journal
11
  • Peter Murphy Filming Twilight Saga: Eclipse Cameo Source: MTV
18
  • David Goyer Promises "Existential" Ghost Rider Sequel Source: MTV
160
  • Emmerich Plans 2012: The TV Series Source: Entertainment Weekly
18
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
42
  • Guttenberg Promises Three Men and a Baby Sequel Source: WENN
66
  • Berenstain Bears Going CGI for Big-Screen Debut Source: USA Today
3
  • Ian McKellen Is Excited About The Hobbit Source: Sci Fi Wire
26
  • Owen Wilson IS Marmaduke Source: Hollywood Reporter
40
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • 12 Facts About 2012
132
  • Total Recall: George Clooney's Best Movies
90
  • RT on DVD: G.I. Joe, Rocky, and Christmas Classics
75
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: This Is It Tops Box Office Worldwide
55
  • Critics Consensus: A Christmas Carol Dazzles But Disappoints
40
  • Ho-ho-horror! 10 Scary Christmas Movies
36
  • Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear
23
  • Friday Harvest: Prince of Persia, The Road, and more!
21
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
14
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
14
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
15
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
  • Emma Stone talks Zombieland - RT Interview
40
  • Michael Moore: The RT Interview
139
  • Andrea Arnold talks Fish Tank - RT Interview
4
  • Neill Blomkamp talks District 9 - RT Interview
51
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • December Boys at Rotten Tomatoes
  • December Boys at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Worst Movie Biopics
Worst Movie Biopics External Link

Moviefone brings us 9 failed attempts at biographical films.

Top Cameron Crowe Moments
Top Cameron Crowe Moments External Link

TIME reminisces on the 10 most iconic moments from the films of Cameron Crowe.

November Films
November Films External Link

BuzzSugar wants to know which movies coming out this month you're most looking forward to.

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

The AV Club takes a look back at Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.