The December Boys

Set in Australia in the '60s, The December Boys follows four young lads from an outback orphanage who get to spend Christmas at a small seaside community where, come the end of the summer, one of them may be adopted by a childless couple. Notable only as Radcliffe's first non-Potter role, it's the sort of pleasant, inoffensive, thoroughly dull and instantly forgettable little film that could easily pass for an ITV drama. It's a strange choice for Radcliffe who, while decent enough, mostly has to stand around looking surly, concentrating on his Aussie accent. The other young actors are equally capable, but the boys don't really have distinct enough personalities to make any of them memorable or to make you interested in which of them gets chosen, and a little more heft to the drama wouldn't have hurt. There are only so many scenes of beach-side frolicking and adolescent whimsy a person can take before it all becomes a little sickly. [Paul Greenwood]