The greatest movie ever!

Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent, a Must See

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

After reading the book, I was curious to see what Neil Jordan made of it. First: the book tells a gripping tragedy, a boy is going down under thanks to the adults around him. Mrs Nugent comes first, then the priest in the reformatory. The red line in the story is the word PIGS, first used by Nugent, against the boy and his family. That is the onset of his brutal behavior. From now on he will be a PIG. Still, he trusts his friend, the priests in the reformatory and will only see his trust badly abused, which aggravates his behavior and makes him furiously rebellious. The mothers suicide and the death of his father are achieving him as a deeply disturbed, psychotic boy. Neil Jordan has turned a tragedy into comedy, without any regards for the psychological drama. Sure the book, because of his psychological depth, might be very difficult to turn into a script. I see that most of the reviewers didn't read the book and could not compare. If I give a 6 out of ten, is to the benefit of the actors, nor to Neil Jordan's film. Jordan has disappointed me.

The movie is basically about growing up under tough circumstance, which is not without its emotional scars and eventually leads up to only more tragedy. It makes the movie sound like such a downer but the movie actually has a sort of light and pleasant atmosphere to it, that is hard to describe or compare to anything else but bottom-line is that it works out well and makes the movie a still mostly pleasant one.Not that the movie is always easy to watch though. It's still being a bit of a difficult movie to follow at times but it never goes overboard with anything. The movie just takes a too light and simplistic approach for that, which is all something positive in this case.I didn't really expected this but it really is a movie that is all about its young characters. All of the adults are truly being secondary characters in this and I would say that Eamonn Owens is on the screen for about 95% of the time, if not an 100% but just don't pin me on that. And I quite like movies that are entirely being told from the viewpoint of a young kid. I don't know, it's always easy to somewhat identify with I guess, since everybody used to be a young kid at one point.You also could say that it's a movie about the loss of innocence. Due to circumstance the young characters in this movie have to mature very fast, while they still have the needs and minds of a young child in them. This leads to some pretty surprising developments at times. Thing that this movie mostly has going for it is its originality. It's being original with its story but even more so with its approach. It also was the right approach to take in my opinion, since this movie would had been an incredible dry and heavy one had it been done as a completely serious drama.Definitely watchable but I should still say that this movie most definitely won't be everybody's cup of tea.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Neil Jordan directed one of the most twisted -- and cleverest -- movies in "The Butcher Boy". It focuses on a disturbed boy (Eamonn Owens) in an Irish village in the early '60s. A combination of his broken home and the threat of nuclear war push the little guy into complete insanity. Seriously, you aren't prepared for some of what this tyke does! Of course, the audience understands that the kid is merely a product of his environment, and so his actions -- no matter how jaw-dropping -- aren't really his fault. But the movie never moralizes. Jordan lets the movie be all that it can be, and the result is amazing. Watching the movie, I got the feeling that they had a lot of fun making it, with the understanding that it's got a pretty serious subject matter.Anyway, definitely worth your time. Also starring Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw (Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter movies), Aisling O'Sullivan, Seán McGinley, Ian Hart (Prof. Quirrell in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"), Brendan Gleeson (Mad-eye Moody in the Harry Potter movies), Milo O'Shea (Friar Laurence in Franco Zefferelli's "Romeo and Juliet"), and Sinéad O'Connor.

Why, Francie Brady, of course. WOW...Watched this for the first time a few weeks ago after seeing it sitting on video stores shelves for years and years now and haven't stopped recommending it since. Great performances from not just the outstanding cast but everyone involved in this, from costume design to location scouts. Unfortunately for them, the show is absolutely stolen by Eamonn Owens as the larger than life Francie Brady. Not for everyone but for those with a taste for the different this film was made for you. A great mix of pitch black humor, heartfelt drama and the macabre this film stands beyond simple A, B or C classification. It is neither comedy, drama or horror but something created from a mix of the three. Can't believe I walked past this so many times without renting it. Think "Angelas Ashes" meets "Pink Floyd: The Wall" or and you've hit the tip of the iceberg on this excellent film. The thick Irish accents can be a bit tough to understand in a few places but most of it is easy enough to decipher. If you liked "The Wicker Man", "Clockwork Orange" and "King of the Hill" (the movie, not the Mike Judge TV show, although that is quite good in it's own right too but I digress....)I can guarantee this will be well worth your two hours. Again, not for everyone but for those who like their comedy or drama with a deep dark twist..it's the goods. Am buying the VHS version as that's all that is available and will wait patiently for a DVD release of this. On my Top 10 films of all time list.