I loved two aspects of this film. One was the incredible performance of Eamonn Owens as the butcher boy. He is absolutely real and believable as the disturbed protagonist in the parts that demanded it.The other aspect is the send up of all those happy Irish films - from "The Quiet Man" to "The Commitments" to "Waking Ned Devine". The ironic combination of these myths with gritty and nasty reality produces a surreal, disturbing yet funny black comedy.Unfortunately, the allegory and the reality don't mix as well as it might have. I kept on thinking that in real life, the butcher boy would have had the s***e beat out of him - many times over (not that it would have mattered). And even though I knew that he was not meant to be absolutely real - (somewhat like the boy in "The Tin Drum") this felt really forced since it detracted from the realistic aspects of the film where it really excelled.However, overall, an excellent and different film which is well worth watching.

I'm glad I finally got around to checking out THE BUTCHER BOY - it's one of those sort of films that I've been keeping my eye on for a while, but never managed to pick it up. It turned out to be another strange, cult-like gem that was well worth waiting for.Francie is a troubled kid growing up in working class Ireland in a household where his mother is nuts and his father's a drunk. His one true friend, Joe is all Francie really has, until fate (and Francie's penchant for trouble-making) separate the boys. The rest of the film chronicles Francie's sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, sometimes disturbing descent into his own madness...A strange films that will run you through the range of emotions - THE BUTCHER BOY is an original film that's hard to compare to any other. I guess I would say it somewhat reminded me of BAD BOY BUBBY (not in "content" - more in how it "effected" me) as like BBB - THE BUTCHER BOY has parts that are funny, witty, dark, sad, disturbing, heartfelt, and much more - all in one film, without feeling like it's being taken overboard. Another BIG plus - is that oftentimes I'm annoyed by child-leads in films - but Francie's character (and actually all the child actors for that matter) were spot-on in this film. My ONLY real gripe is that many of the characters have such a strong Irish accent that I couldn't tell what the hell they were saying half the time - but that's not their fault, I just found it a bit distracting. A truly strange treasure that I highly suggest checking out...9/10

I don't understand how this movie is so unknown by most of the people.Simply put, this is an amazing film. Eamonn Owens' performance is just unbelievable.There are some serious and sensitives themes in this movie (murder, suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, child abuse, religion) however it's not a disturbing movie (it has its moments though). The reason for the lack of disturbance in this film is because we're seeing everything from the perspective of a little boy.The Butcher Boy is, for sure, one of the best dark comedies/dramas that I've seen. Highly recommendable.

This came on Hallmark Asia one evening and I just kept it on, not able to take my eyes off from the scene of Francie lying in the hospital all bandaged up to the end of the movie. It was funny and tragic. Violent, but enlightening. Your heart aches with each betrayal Francie faces that puts him deeper into his mental illness. It's an amazing movie and I am glad to have caught it. 4 out of 4.