Nowhere Boy 2009

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: It's a pleasant-enough creation story to revisit, one weighted down by melodrama and lifted up by some rocking tunes. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: If only the script had been content to stick with its let's-start-a-band verve. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The creative process is almost audible in a silent moment when John turns an adoring gaze on the curvaceous body of his first guitar. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Nowhere Boy is fully accessible for everyone, not just fans. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Nowhere Boy is modest in scope and more rewarding for it, highlighted by particularly strong performances by Thomas and Johnson, and a keen sense of time and place. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Although he doesn't look much like Lennon, Johnson captures that essence perfectly; the future icon is here a confused, hurt boy. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: As sympathetic and well-turned as it is, Nowhere Boy only gives us more mythology. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: And though this biopic is as tidy as a three minute pop song, when we see him look back one last time as he leaves Aunt Mimi's for Hamburg and all that would come after, the music god is just a little more human. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The events chronicled are all longstanding Beatles legends, though director Sam Taylor-Wood manages to stage even the most portentous moments without making you feel a celestial choir is in order. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Johnson does a terrific job of capturing Lennon's mannerisms without coming across like a puppet. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: It relishes its myth-making enterprise without getting too cute about it. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: More love triangle than musical, the effective and often sweet Nowhere Boy offers a sense of the time and tension that produced John Lennon. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The power of Nowhere Boy is that, as directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, it captures how John Lennon's deeply sordid family life toyed with his soul by not letting him know who he was. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: As the story of a young man struggling to find his own identity, Nowhere Boy would work even if its protagonist hadn't grown up to change the world. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Taylor-Wood has specialized in video installations and off-kilter portraits, and it was tempting to hope that her take on Lennon would unsettle and provoke. Instead, she stays resolutely on-kilter, as if awed into numbness by her subject. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Nowhere Boy gets John's teen years in Liverpool exactly right, and first-time director Sam Taylor-Wood has made an excellent choice in casting Aaron Johnson. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Taylor-Wood captures the sounds and textures of Liverpool and Blackpool, where a new beat is playing in the cafes and clubs. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Taylor-Wood stresses the universals rather than the specifics of John's youth. So don't go expecting a Fab Four origin story. The word Beatles is never uttered. But do go. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: We reflect that even if all you need is love, that isn't always all you get. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Nowhere Boy is smart enough not to spell it all out. You can hear it in Lennon's music, which plays in your head as the movie works its subtle magic. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Rather than a rock 'n' roll biopic, this is a classic British family melodrama, anchored by one of the subtlest, richest roles in Kristin Scott Thomas' impressive career. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: To watch Nowhere Boy is to appreciate anew both the anger that drove Lennon and the strength of character it took for him to overcome it. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The story of Lennon's early years is dramatic and painful enough to survive an imperfect retelling, even if you're already familiar with the stations of the cross. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A Great Man biography gone comically wrong. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Nowhere Boy is a poignant reminder that before the world was at his command, John Lennon was a bit like you and me. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: This portrait of a Beatle as a young man also gives filmmaker Sam Taylor-Wood, working on a thoughtful script by Matt Greenhalgh, creative room to manoeuvre, introducing us to John just as he and rock 'n' roll discover one another. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The reason to see Nowhere Boy is the charismatic Johnson, who effortlessly nails Lennon's strut, anger and sensitivity. Anybody seeing the movie could surely spot a star in the making. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Taylor-Wood and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh mostly play it safe, offering an accessible period piece, free of nostalgia and full of key and credible emotional flashpoints. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Director Sam Taylor-Wood weaves this tale with elegance, spot-on costumes and production design, and finely tuned casting. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: Read more

Eric Hynes, Village Voice: Taylor-Woods debut feature is a rote coming-of-age tableau that churns through stations of anger, inspiration, reconciliation, McCartney, and Harrison. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The movie succumbs to maudlin sentiment and melodrama that Lennon himself might have dismissed with one of his signature cutting remarks. Read more