Movie #1145 "The History Boys" was a movie I have been waiting to see for a long time because I had enjoyed the play when I saw it on Broadway. Well, I had the opportunity to see it the other night, so I did. I was impressed that the director Nicholas Hytner got all the original young actors from the stage to recreate their parts in the film. And basically, a lot of the dialogue is the same, and the teachers are all played by the same actors, as we saw in the play. However, there's a huge difference --- I enjoyed the play so much more. I have been thinking why the play worked, but the movie not so much for me. One big difference is that the film takes the boys and their classroom out into nature and surrounding places (ruins, statues, busts of famous poets, etc ) in support of one of the main themes of the play --- that there's so much to learn when a teacher isn't teaching to the test! Surprisingly, seeing those things doesn't help this viewer because it detracts from the lines that the actors are saying ----- lines that a viewer needs to focus on because of the accents, the vocabulary, the stylistic way & the speed of their speaking. So maybe that's one possibility. The other is just the changes that were made in the dialogue and in the play itself ---- I remember, for example, the high point being much more poignant than in the film here, but maybe because we were confined in a small environment sharing the moment with the characters, and the film may have lost the immediacy of the story. I don't know, but live theatre usually beats film for me, and this play is no exception. P.S. I esp. enjoyed watching James Cordon (whom I am a big fan of with his nightly show on CBS after Colbert) since he plays Timm, the wisecracker in the film. He's so young here --- and Mr. Griffiths, the main professor, is dead now, but it was nice seeing him in this --- almost as if they preserved the special cast they had on Broadway, by filming it. I liked that idea! It also allows people who didn't get to see the stage play, to see it and to continue to enjoy it in years to come. 3 out of 5 stars.
The History Boys
2006 R Rated R112 mins
Nicholas Hytner, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour reprise their Tony-winning roles in this engaging film version of Alan Bennett's play, chronicling a rowdy group of boys on their way to higher education. On a quest to attend either Oxford or Cambridge, the teens grapple with the intricacies of university entrance exams and admissions, ultimately learning as much about the education system as they do about academics.
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