The Mudge Boy

Emile Hirsch confirms what a perfect actor he is. And mainly thanks to him, I felt so incredibly sorry for Duncan that I had to reassure myself several times that "it's just a movie." But the film is so intimately open that this uncompromising transformation of adolescence deeply gets to you at several crucial points. (2008-03-15)

The Mudge Boy benefits mainly from a breathtaking performance by Emil Hirsch, whose Duncan has a hard time in life trying to find human contact or the love of his fellow man, without much success, which is why he fixates on his chicken "Chicken" and others think he's a weirdo. Even though the film has a strong theme and some noteworthy scenes, I found it rather strangely aloof except for the last and very dense ten minutes. I don't know how to describe the feeling myself. It was well acted, but for the most part (well, except for the ending) it struck me as an average father-son drama. (2020-10-07)