Neil Jordan co-wrote and directed this hilarious Irish film. A boy growing up in the early 1960's is surrounded by a drunken father, a crazy mother and an assortment of oddballs. With the background of the Cold War, using actual clips of JFK's warning of a nuclear apocalypse, the people of a small Irish village pray to the Virgin Mary for salvation. Meanwhile, the kid has a personal battle with a Mrs. Nugent, who makes his life miserable. Sinead O'Connor appears to him as Our Lady. The story is a rollicking ride with no apologies to its' sometimes sacrilegious world view. As a retired Catholic, I was not offended. Just sit back and be prepared to laugh your ass off.

The movie is basically about growing up under tough circumstance, which is not without its emotional scars and eventually leads up to only more tragedy. It makes the movie sound like such a downer but the movie actually has a sort of light and pleasant atmosphere to it, that is hard to describe or compare to anything else but bottom-line is that it works out well and makes the movie a still mostly pleasant one.Not that the movie is always easy to watch though. It's still being a bit of a difficult movie to follow at times but it never goes overboard with anything. The movie just takes a too light and simplistic approach for that, which is all something positive in this case.I didn't really expected this but it really is a movie that is all about its young characters. All of the adults are truly being secondary characters in this and I would say that Eamonn Owens is on the screen for about 95% of the time, if not an 100% but just don't pin me on that. And I quite like movies that are entirely being told from the viewpoint of a young kid. I don't know, it's always easy to somewhat identify with I guess, since everybody used to be a young kid at one point.You also could say that it's a movie about the loss of innocence. Due to circumstance the young characters in this movie have to mature very fast, while they still have the needs and minds of a young child in them. This leads to some pretty surprising developments at times. Thing that this movie mostly has going for it is its originality. It's being original with its story but even more so with its approach. It also was the right approach to take in my opinion, since this movie would had been an incredible dry and heavy one had it been done as a completely serious drama.Definitely watchable but I should still say that this movie most definitely won't be everybody's cup of tea.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

to whoever wrote the comment about the accents and it being glad the film wasn't set in the USA. your comments were nice but displayed appalling ignorance. the film is based on a book by pat McCabe set up in north west Ireland which is the north west of Ireland so you'll excuse the actors for having Irish accents. the book is much darker and is a kin d of comment on the darker aspects of Irish society back in the 19860s. READ THE BOOK. also why does every film have to be set in the USA to be good? the film is wonderful and the whole surreal and narrator thing is the whole point. the narrator is Francie grown up. please do some more research and come back and post comments then. the ignorance is embarrassing and also makes Americans look really stupid although they are not

During the 1960's people were fearful of losing their world. What with the Cuban Missle Crises and the threat of Nuclear Winter, it's little wonder many hid in prayerful disillusion. For two young Irish boys, something loomed closer. Their lives encompassed their town, their family and their friendship. The first is Joe Purcell (Alan Boyle) a typical Irish boy out to enjoy his youth. The second is his best and closest friend named Francis Brady (Eamonn Owens) who becomes the unlikely hero in the movie, "The Butcher Boy." To Joe, friendship is a temporary bond which enhances life with laughter, pranks and boyhood imagination. But to Francis Brady, friendship is permanent and indelible which nothing on the planet, including Atomic fire, can separate. Enter, the boy's Nemesis, the town gossip and constant irritation to their bond. Mrs. Nugent, (Fiona Shaw) sees the boys as lowly delinquents, petty trouble makers, vicious bullies and future criminals. During the escalating conflict, the audience watches as Francis loses many of the people he loves. Eventually, Mrs. Nugent causes him to lose his best friend. Vengefully, Francis marks her for ultimate punishment. Audiences must decided the boy's reason for his erratic behavior. Was it his drunken father's (Stephen Rea) physical abuse, his mother's suicidal tendencies, incarceration at reform school, becoming a victim of sexual abuse by Father Sullivan (Milo O'Shea), subsequent shock treatments, increasing mental delusions of space aliens or iconic religious figures. It's little wonder Francsis commits the ultimate act of revenge. This is an honest, straight forward movie, which depicts the inner workings of a fragile but psychotic boy in crises. Many people allow maturity to transform them into adults, but some refuse, paying the inevitable price for doing so. ****