The History Boys
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rated: R
Cast: Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison, Frances De La Tour, Stephen Campbell Moore, Dominic Cooper
Director: Nicholas Hytner, Nicholas Hytner, Nick Starr
WorkNameSort: History Boys, The
Ever wondered what it would be like if the struggle for Charlie Sheen’s soul in Platoon had been played out in a British high-school classroom rather than Vietnam? And instead of Tom Berenger and Willem Defoe trying to corrupt and save Sheen, the film were to substitute two gay teachers played by Richard Griffiths and Stephen Campbell Moore? And the Sheen character were taken over by eight brilliant teenagers? Then, congratulations, The History Boys is about to make your wildest fantasies come true. This adaptation of the Tony-winning play by Alan Bennett follows the eight eggheads as they prepare to test into Oxford and Cambridge while struggling with how their education should define their identities. Unfortunately, the staid production never manages to justify the leap from stage to screen. Barely a moment passes that, despite the dialogue’s energy or the ideas being conveyed, the film doesn’t feel like a play that didn’t want to grow up into a movie.
This article appears in Dec 20-26, 2006.