70
This adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel may not display the glitz and relentless energy of The Commitments, but it has wit, feeling and authenticity.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
There’s plenty of unvarnished, off-the-wall Irish humor, especially in the ensemble scenes of family life and boozy barroom chat, plus real warmth beneath the rough one-liners.
80
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
Stephen Frear's The Snapper hits the spot nicely, if your spot likes hearty rounds of working-class comedy.
75
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
It's refreshing to see an old subject dealt with in the open and original manner that The Snapper handles pregnancy. The marriage of humor and drama is admittedly imperfect, but it works well enough to occasionally spawn laughter and touch the heart.
80
Written by Roddy Doyle this was never going to be a depressing tale of single parenthood. Instead we watch through rose-tinted glasses as the ever watchable Colm Meaney bonds with his family over his daughter's pregnancy out of wedlock in Catholic Ireland.
78
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
There's not as much bombast here as there was in Parker's Commitments, but then Frears is an entirely different kind of director. He prefers the ensemble to the character study, and here he does a wonderful job of it.
100
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
This rip-roaring Irish comedy is the freshest surprise of the season.
88
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The Snapper sees its characters with warmth and acceptance, and earns its laughs by being wise about human nature.
80
The New York Times by Vincent Canby
A small, joyful lark of a film.