Directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss
Running time: 1 hour and 49 Minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some strong language, and thematic elements

by Ian Hrabe

There’s a moment about halfway through Boys State when everything just clicks. It’s one of those intangibles that makes being a film fan such an intense joy. At first you’re just along for the ride, but when the film’s true motive becomes clear it is exhilarating. It helps that the premise of Boys State is a surefire attention grabber. Every year the American Legion hosts a program in each state where 1100 17-year-old boys (girls have a separate Girls State program) are put together and made to craft a representative government (with two hypothetical political parties--Nationalist and Federalist– with the highest office being governor, but also including representatives, court justices, etc) amongst themselves. Boys State chronicles Texas’s 2018 Boys State program, and the dose of Texas sized energy gives the film an extra gear that you wouldn’t get from, say, Boys State Delaware. The end result is a film that plays out like the Model U.N. by way of Lord of the Flies and it is one of the most engrossing movies of the year.