The History Boys (2006)

The History Boys was shot over five weeks after the close of the original West End run of the play, and while there is stray evidence of its hurried creation and theatrical origins, the appeal that led to its success is largely preserved. In listing the film's assets, one should probably start with Alan Bennett's script, a treatise on education and character as fate that incorporates ample humor, repressed sexuality, boy-falsetto renditions of early 20th century pop standards, and French brothel classroom exercise that shows the lifelong British humorist author's skills at stories both piquant and sweet. The actors playing the titular boys perform their roles with infectious enthusiasm, though their parts are unevenly conceived. Samuel Barnett as Posner, a sensitive and premature gay student, and Dominic Cooper as Dakin, Posner's crush and the school's resident ladies' man, are the clear standouts as the leads. In a smaller role, Russell Tovey as the dull thick-headed Rudge uses his few scenes to push his character's overlooked complexity. Of the adults, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour movingly embody the idealism, cynicism, and resigned melancholy of elder faculty in a mostly underachieving public school. Director Nicholas Hytner has shown more visual ingenuity in adapting plays to the screen, but his on-the-fly television-feature approach at least emphasizes his handling of the actors and gives the action a low-key accessible warmth that only makes the characters more endearing. The ending feels a little cheap and its translation from the stage too literal for a movie, but the characters are so engrossing and sympathetic that one may be too enchanted to overlook such minor faults. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide