Master Harold... and the Boys

2010

1h 27m

Drama

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Reviews

51%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

Hally (Freddie Highmore), an adolescent white South African, deals with his father's racism while learning important life lessons from Sam (Ving Rhames), a black waiter.

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Audience Member

Hated every minute of this awful film. The continuous portrayal of every black person in this movie as being incompetent, stupid and illiterate was beyond ridiculous. Minstrel ideology at it's finest. An absolute dumpster fire approach towards any form of equality. The plot line was just the white savior trope, fleshed out with frivolous nonsense to further push the preposterous notion that any non-white person would be hopeless without the whit, cunning, knowledge and ability of the white man / woman.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Frances H

Not just about the inhumanity of racism in white 1950s South Africa, but also about the fragility of the human psyche when growing up fighting against the odds of misfortune. A touching drama that shows its origin in the theater.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/11/15

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Audience Member

It's a great play, but I don't know if it really jives with being on film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Audience Member

This drama about a young white boy and two black servants, and life during apartheid in South Africa. The cast is decent, but at times the chemistry is off. For the most part is a solid drama on serious issues, with some humor mixed in for good measure.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Audience Member

A year ago, I had the pleasure of seeing a college production of this show that is one of the best shows I have ever seen, period, and that includes Broadway productions. After that, it's inevitable that any other production is going to be a little disappointing. This one isn't *bad*, but it's not transcendent, and the things they tried to do to make it seem less "play-like" didn't work for me. The constant cutting away to flashbacks or imaginary scenarios far too often took me out of the story, instead of helping me live through it. Freddie Highmore may be a bit older here, but he's not a terribly good actor. He has a couple great moments (my favorite part of the movie, in fact, was his) but those seem to be the exception, rather than the rule, as the rest of the time he is fairly one-note. Ving Rhames does a fairly good job as Sam, but his monologues feel preachy rather than conversational. The play itself is still excellently written, and much of the original dialogue remains here, but this is overall a bit of a disappointment as a theatrical adaptation.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

Patrick Mofokeng, & Jennifer Steyn are very impressive. But the heart of this film unfortunately isn't fully exposed by the director.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Lonny Price

Director

Freddie Highmore

Hally

Ving Rhames

Sam

Patrick Mofokeng

Willie

Justin Stein

Bully

Jennifer Steyn

Betty Ballard

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Steve Erickson

Nashville Scene

Superbly directed on a low budget by Lonny Price (who played Hally in the original Broadway run), Master Harold ... and the Boys packs a punch.

Mar 2, 2019

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Phil Hall

Film Threat

This film version never quite clicks because of a lack of ensemble chemistry with its three main stars.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 6, 2011

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Synopsis

Hally (Freddie Highmore), an adolescent white South African, deals with his father's racism while learning important life lessons from Sam (Ving Rhames), a black waiter.

Director: Lonny Price
Producer: George Belshaw, Raimund Berens, Reuben Cannon, Peter Dale
Screenwriter: Nicky Rebello
Production Co: Focus Features
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 9, 2012
Runtime: 1h 27m

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