The Butcher Boy

R

1997

1 hr. 46 min.

Drama

List

77%

62 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Francie (Eamonn Owens) has a disastrous childhood and retreats into television and movies to escape the pain. His mother (Aisling O'Sullivan) is suicidal, and his alcoholic father (Stephen Rea) has little to do with him. Francie's tendency to project violent fantasies onto reality lands him in reform school, where he is sexually abused. Wildly looking to hold someone responsible for all the trauma visited on him, Francie targets his neighbor, Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw).

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Critics Consensus

Equal parts comical and harrowing, The Butcher Boy is a sobering tale of abuse told with an imaginative lyricism that is by turns inspired and distracting.

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Kevin M

Very sad movie with whatever the boy went through in his life.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/13/23

Full Review

S R

1001 movies to see before you die. A bizarre Irish film showing the culture there in a way that was blasphemous, black and funny at the same time. It crossed a few lines for me though and hence its rating, but it still kept my interest. It could have been much cleaner and been more approachable. It was on youtube.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/14/23

Full Review

Thomas M

The best acting performance from Eamonn Owens!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/25/22

Full Review

dave s

One of director Neil Jordan's lesser-known films, The Butcher Boy follows the exploits of Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), the product of an alcoholic father and mentally mother, who makes his way through life in a small working-class Irish village by means of violence and intimidation, a sociopath in the making. It is a bleak and harrowing existence, but the film is infused with an odd energy thanks to the performance of Owens, as well as Jordan's direction, who allows the camera to roam about in a manner consistent with the movie's 12-year-old protagonist…or would that be antagonist? What makes The Butcher Boy so compelling is the fact that while you have hope for Francie's future, it seems inevitable that things will turn out poorly for him. Despite this, the atrocities at the end of the film still come as an unwelcomed shock.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I last saw this movie in the late 90's. It messed me up in my late twenties, but left such an impression on me that I still remember it. It was a glimpse into the madness of a troubled little boy, and how he came to be. At the time, it reminded me a lot of Pink Floyd's The Wall in terms of uncomfortable viewing it gave me. But clearly it left its mark, if I can still review it in 2022 and make out all of its parts. That's the mark of a good movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

William L

Strange to see an Irish film from the '90s that doesn't have Brendan Gleeson somewhere in ... nope, no wait, there he is. A black comedy that leans more heavily towards tragic drama to develop its main character than its interesting surrealism, The Butcher Boy shows hints at a bizarre and entertaining take on adolescence and family breakdown but spends too much time on the grounded, distressing elements to keep the energy and interest level high. An exasperated chase scene finale that joins the cultural escape of an young midcentury kid with real-world brutality (equating his murder of the woman that he perceives as having stolen his best friend with a Lone Ranger-esque adventure) is too fun of a finale to really be satisfied with a buildup that is mostly just miserable moping and the occasional conversation with a vulgar Virgin Mary. Still, demonstrates a capable understanding of the climate of confusion and unpredictability of the Cold War coupled with American Western swagger, each coalescing into major personality traits of a disaffected kid with a bad home life. A slow start, but a strong finish, and featuring an unusually good performance from a child actor in Eamonn Owens' Francie, who convincingly delivers a unique combination of frustration, determination, and cruelty. And let's be clear, this kid was a little twerp well before his life started falling apart. (2.5/5)

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/22

Full Review

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Neil Jordan

Director

Eamonn Owens

Francie Brady

Alan Boyle

Joe Purcell

Stephen Rea

Da Brady

Fiona Shaw

Mrs. Nugent

Andrew Fullerton

Phillip Nugent

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Paul Tatara

CNN.com

The Butcher Boy is a trip, all right, but one that I'm sorry I took.

Feb 5, 2018

Full Review

Mike Clark

USA Today

The movie is well-crafted and tightly assembled, but it's also loud and unmodulated.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 9, 2018

Full Review

Lisa Alspector

Chicago Reader

Director Neil Jordan and Patrick McCabe adapted McCabe's novel for this bland 1998 shocker that fails miserably as satire, character study, and anything else it might have aspired to.

Mar 11, 2008

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The Butcher Boy is bold and often shocking, but the film’s playful humor crashes against the dark, manic, sometimes depressing material and makes for an oddly enjoyable-if-devastating drama.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 8, 2024

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...clumsily lurches from one irrelevant, uninteresting episode to the next...

Rated: 0/4

Jan 26, 2014

Full Review

Ken Fox

TV Guide

Owens' remarkable, high-pitched performance and Jordan's lush, visionary style are perfectly suited to the material.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 11, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

Francie (Eamonn Owens) has a disastrous childhood and retreats into television and movies to escape the pain. His mother (Aisling O'Sullivan) is suicidal, and his alcoholic father (Stephen Rea) has little to do with him. Francie's tendency to project violent fantasies onto reality lands him in reform school, where he is sexually abused. Wildly looking to hold someone responsible for all the trauma visited on him, Francie targets his neighbor, Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw).

Director: Neil Jordan
Executive Producer: Neil Jordan
Screenwriter: Pat McCabe, Neil Jordan, Pat McCabe
Production Co: Geffen Pictures, Butcher Boy Film, Warner Bros.
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.0M
Sound Mix: Surround, DTS, SDDS, Dolby Digital

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