Boys Don't Cry (1999)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fresh and Exciting

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

As a man who's seen a million girls faces, I couldn't believe for 1 second that ms swank wasn't a girl. Her acting and body motions also betray her, but her face is that of a girl, and regardless of her acting, her face is so feminine that it makes me wonder what was going on in the casting director's mind. The story was fine, but it was ruined for me becouse of this casting error.

This movie directed by Kimberly Peirce, dramatizes the tragic events that took place in December 1993 in Lincoln, Nebraska and made news headlines around the nation. This film follows 21-year old girl named Teena Brandon (played by Hilary Swank) who lives with her cousin Lonny (played by Matt McGrath) in Lincoln, Nebraska. Sporting a short hairstyle, platted shirt, jeans, and some boots, Teena adopts a male identity and goes under the 'Brandon Teena'. He begins living his life as a boy and travels to a small of Falls City, Nebraska where he attempts to true love and falls in love with beautiful girl named Lana Tisdel (played by Chloe Sevigny). Making an effort to keep his true gender a secret, Brandon ventures his nights through drinking, sex, and street racing with Lana and her friends Candice (played by Alicia Goranson), John Lotter (played by Peter Sarsgard), and Tom Nissen (played by Brenden Sexton). However, when everyone soon discovers he is hiding his true gender, his life makes a turn for the worse and his relationship with Lana is deeply put to the test. The title of the film is taken from 'Boys Don't Cry" by the rock band The Cure.This film tackles on some heavy subject matter about transgender and the story is very thought-provoking enough for viewers raise questions dealing with the subject matter, especially since this is based on events that happened in real life. Director Kimberly Peirce and the writers with the story as well as the characters very genuine and maturely, and I think it pays a good tribute to the real-life story of Teena Brandon. The characters are beautifully written, the main character Brandon Teena (or Teena Brandon) in particular, and the story really comes to life by an amazing, if not excellent script. Hilary Swank's performance is nothing short of fantastic, she really brings such light to her role and viewers can tell that she is really committed to the role. The fact that she won an Oscar for her performance is no surprise. The rest of cast did quite a credible job as well. Then the story moves pretty good throughout its the film's run and manages to stay intriguing for the most time. The first half of the film is very light-hearted and soft-spoken, then the second half gets quite powerful and upsetting in tone. As the themes of the film are heavy, there are some scenes that get quite poignant and aggressively uncomfortable to watch, especially for viewers who have dealt with similar situations. But overall, this film really honest and grounded in a way where viewers are able to connect with the characters and the story. The only real flaw with the film is that it fails to explain the reason behind the Brandon's transgender or her background that gives hints as to why she adopted a male identity to begin with.Boys Don't Cry is a powerful and thought-provoking. The performances are amazing and the writing is quite awe-inspiring. This is a film that is important to watch, but something I would only recommend to mature viewers due to the intense subject matter and tone that not all viewers could handle too easy.

Powerful and moving film, but not without flaws. Hilary Swank gives the best performance she's ever given here. She does a great job at making you care about this tortured character. I'd say her performance is the highlight of the film. Everyone else does a pretty nice job as well. The people playing the evil murderers did their job of making me hate them and the other side characters did their jobs fine. The film tells the story of real life teenager Brandon Teena who was murdered for being transgender, and for the most part, the film tells this story fairly well. Only problem though is it tends to ignore the more flawed aspects of the character. The real life person had quite a criminal record, and while they do mention this several times in the movie, I never felt they truly explored that side of the character. The film instead decided to focus more on making the audience care about the main character, which is fine, I just would have liked both aspects of the character to have been touched on with equal amounts. In the end, it's still a pretty great film. The film makes you care and the more uncomfortable scenes don't feel excessive and unnecessary. Go see it.

I often wonder this. This film is the story of Brandon a girl who only feels right when passing off as a boy. What many people don't know is that he has no control over this it's just god gave him the wrong parts. Because of trying to be true to himself and following the girl he loves what follows is him being beat, raped, and tortured. This film shows how Lana fell in love with Brandon not because of his looks or that he is really a she but plane and simple he treated her better then she had ever been treated. This love story takes off but comes to a screeching halt. What John did to Brandon will stick in my head forever it's so hard to believe there is so much evil in this world. I would also like to say this is one of the most important films of all time. This is a film I will show to my kids, there kids and so on because I will make sure that they respect and love people for who they are. I pray for the day when we not only accept our diffeences but we actually celebrate our divercity.