Boy Erased

"It is clear – well before a text insert appears late in the running time explaining that an estimated 700,000 LGBTQ Americans have suffered through gay conversion programs – that Joel Edgerton’s second feature film as a director is in part a work of activism. Or at least a socially conscientious drama fuelled by a bit of finger waving. No surprises there: an attempt to remove ideology from a story like this would be like trying to take the cream out of homogenized milk."

"Edgerton shows an admirable sense of restraint, even when hitting all the usual beats."

"Boy Erased is still a respectable effort, serious and sober, about a very real, very bad practice. The film's heart is firmly in the right place."

""Boy Erased" tries to be more than a simple culture-war morality play, and it succeeds in some measure..."

"As a PSA it surely has a necessity and it's undoubtedly well-intentioned but as film with its heart in the right place, I just wish its heart was beating a bit louder."

"Proving again that he's one of the best actors of his generation, Lucas Hedges shines alongside Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe in this harrowing real-life tale of a gay teen whose parents send him to conversion therapy"

"While Edgerton's fractured approach has a frustrating way of compartmentalising his characters... "Boy Erased" regards everyone with such raw empathy that even its most difficult moments are fraught with the possibility of forgiveness."

"[A] heart-rending drama."