The beauty of This Boy's Life is in the details: this meticulously observed story gets the look of the late '50s down pat and, more important, captures the dissonance between the era's ideals of nuclear-family life and painfully deracinated reality.

| Jan 29, 2019

The film demands ominous electricity between Dwight and Toby, the latter of whom endures various and sundry humiliation and harm at the former's hands. And there are times when DiCaprio doesn't just go toe-to-toe with De Niro but feels just as tall.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 5, 2013

| Original Score: C | Sep 7, 2011

This is powerful and moving stuff.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 8, 2010

Something more subtle is going on in Wolff's book, a confrontation with a richer, quirkier past and his emerging self that the movie too often brushes aside.

| Feb 8, 2010

The leads work overtime to make their characters and their relationships pungent, believable, and moving.

| Feb 8, 2010

De Niro and Birkin are reliable in this atmospheric drama, but it's DiCaprio who really shines.

| Feb 8, 2010

A young DiCaprio steals the show in this tale of learning how to be a man, with a sly De Niro also giving a good performance, but with a plot that drags on too long.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 8, 2010

Nicely acted but excessively bland.

Full Review | Jun 3, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 24, 2007

A powerful if familiar family melodrama with a bravura performance from newcomer Leonardo DiCaprio, who's bound to become a major actor in the future.

| Original Score: B | Dec 31, 2006

It's a rites-of-passage drama with the kind of period small-town setting that the director is making his own.

| Jun 24, 2006

Well acted, but bleak and slow-moving.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 21, 2005

De Niro does great work here. Highly underrated flick.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 3, 2005

Outstanding performances from DeNiro and Di Caprio in a tough, lyrical drama

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 24, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 2, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 22, 2004

a compelling character study that is well worth watching just for Dicaprio's performance

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 24, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 17, 2003

This Boy's Life shows how a resilient teenager survives childhood trauma and adversity through independence, anger and creativity..

| May 21, 2003