Half Nelson (2006)

NEUTRAL

Various

88%

2006, Drama, 1h 46m

RT Critics’ Score: 91% (UNBIASED)
RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
29 wins & 48 nominations total

Click to Stream

Critics Consensus

Half Nelson features powerful performances from Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps. It’s a wise, unsentimental portrait of lonely people at the crossroads

Audience Consensus

Half Nelson is a film that will leave you feeling like you just got hit with a half nelson (in a good way). Ryan Gosling’s performance as a self-destructive teacher is so mesmerizing that you’ll forget he’s not a real person. And Shareeka Epps is a force to be reckoned with as Drey, a young girl with a self-possession that will make you question your own maturity. The film doesn’t know how good it is, but we do. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and get ready to be moved, uplifted, and maybe even a little bit humored.

Storyline

Young Caucasian Dan Dunne teaches history and coaches the girls basketball team at a Brooklyn high school populated primarily by black and Hispanic students. To the chagrin of his superiors, Dan bucks the outlined curriculum of historical facts in favor of the philosophy of historical events, generally discussing the concept of dialectics. As such, he captures the imagination of his students, at least in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, Dan’s life is in shambles. He has a distant but cordial relationship with his family. He uses illicit drugs rampantly. Although his former girlfriend Rachel was able to clean up her drug habit, Dan believes that rehab will not work for him. Due to a combination of these issues, he treats women poorly. Thirteen-year-old Drey is a student in his class and a player on his basketball team. Drey has her own problems. Her parents are divorced, with her father a virtually non-existent figure in her life and her EMT mother generally absent as she is always working to provide for Drey. Her older brother Mike is incarcerated for selling drugs for a local dealer named Frank. Mike took the fall for Frank, who in turn protects Drey whether she wants to be associated with him or not. Dan and Drey’s relationship changes when Drey catches Dan, believing he is alone, smoking crack in the girl’s locker room bathroom. He is totally stoned. Their resulting friendship, which is seen as inappropriate by the few who know, is based on each being unable to deal with their own life, but feeling like they can be at least a minor salvation in the other’s life.

Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros., Heyday Films, 1492 Pictures,

Distributor
NA

Release Type
Theatrical

Filming Location(s)
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for drug content throughout, language and some sexuality

Year of Release
2006

Technical Specs

Color:

Color
Sound mix:

Dolby Digital
Aspect ratio:

1.85 : 1
Runtime:

NA
Language(s):

English
Country of origin:

United States
Release date:

Release Date (Theaters): Jan 23, 2006 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 13, 2007

Genre(s)
Drama

Keyword(s)
Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, directed by Ryan Fleck, written by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, drama, R-rated, box office gross $2.7M, reviewed by Bob Mondello, Sandra Hall, Tim Robey, Andrew Pulver, James Christopher, Angie Errigo, Kathy Fennessy, PJ Nabarro, Anton Bitel, Felix Vasquez Jr., Charles Cassady, 1h 46m, history teacher, Brooklyn school, drug addiction, mentorship, female student, dealing drugs, addiction struggles, teacher-student friendship, lonely people, unsentimental portrait, powerful performances, Anna Boden, Lynette Howell Taylor, Rosanne Korenberg, Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof, MPAA rating, English language, drama genre, Ryan Gosling as Dan Dunne, Shareeka Epps as Drey, Anthony Mackie as Frank, Deborah Rush as Jo, Jay O Sanders as Russ, Nicole Vicius as Cindy, produced by Anna Boden, Lynette Howell Taylor, Rosanne Korenberg, Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $4,660,481
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,872,611
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,080
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 749,467

US/Canada gross: $2,697,938
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $3,978,533
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,872
US/Canada opening weekend: $53,983
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $79,606
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,024

Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $700,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $1,032,260
Production budget ranking: 2,090
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $555,872
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $5,284,479
ROI to date (est.): 333%
ROI ranking: 417

Cast & Crew

Ryan Gosling

Shareeka Epps

Anthony Mackie

Deborah Rush

Jay O. Sanders

Dan Dunne

Drey

Frank

Russ

Ryan Gosling – Dan Dunne
Shareeka Epps – Drey
Anthony Mackie – Frank
Deborah Rush – Jo
Jay O. Sanders – Russ
Nicole Vicius – Cindy
Anna Boden – Producer
Lynette Howell Taylor – Producer
Rosanne Korenberg – Producer
Alex Orlovsky – Producer
Jamie Patricof – Producer
Ryan Fleck – Director, Writer
Ryan Fleck – Writer
Anna Boden – Writer

Ryan Fleck

Anna Boden

Lynette Howell Taylor

Rosanne Korenberg

Director

Writer

Producer

Director(s)
Ryan Fleck

Writer(s)
Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden

Producer(s)
Anna Boden, Lynette Howell Taylor, Rosanne Korenberg, Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof

Film Festivals

Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
29 wins & 48 nominations total

Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees

Top Reviews

Bob Mondello

Sandra Hall

Tim Robey

Andrew Pulver

James Christopher

NPR.org

Sydney Morning Herald

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Guardian

Times (UK)

HALF NELSON
All Critics (158) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (143) | Rotten (15)
Ryan Gosling’s self-destructive teacher is easily the year’s most mesmerizing character study. And he’s hardly the only reason to see this film. Shareeka Epps anchors her scenes as Drey with a self-possession way beyond her years.

October 18, 2008

Bob Mondello
NPR.org
TOP CRITIC
It’s hardly a film which trumpets its virtues but that’s part of the pleasure to be had from it. It doesn’t know how good it is.

April 27, 2007 | Rating: 4/5

Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
It’s impressively adult, sure-footed filmmaking, and that Best Actor nod was definitely deserved.

April 20, 2007

Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Dunne [Gosling] is an enjoyable and impressive creation, justifiably recognised with an Oscar nomination for Gosling earlier this year.

April 20, 2007 | Rating: 3/5

Andrew Pulver
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
It’s the gritty script and sheer quality of the performances that distinguish this parable.

April 20, 2007 | Rating: 4/5

James Christopher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
An original work that is moving, not without humour, fly-on-the-wall realistic and uplifting.

April 20, 2007 | Rating: 4/5

Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
…the final scene is so lovely–so subtle, yet funny–that it makes up for any missteps that have come before it.

September 16, 2021 | Rating: 4/4

Kathy Fennessy
Seattle Film Blog
The more interesting aspects of the film come in its less pre-determined margins. And maybe the drama is highly strategised, but the acting is real and genuine.

March 22, 2021 | Rating: 3/5

PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro
High ideals clash with Bush-era realities in this class debut – well balanced, wonderfully performed, and refreshingly free from cliché.

March 9, 2019

Anton Bitel
Projected Figures
A fantastic merging of talents into a pure piece of art…

April 12, 2014

Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
Indie inner-city drama with drug-addict teacher.

December 15, 2010 | Rating: 4/5

Charles Cassady
Common Sense Media
“Half Nelson” elegantly tiptoe around its elephant in the room: Dan’s most compelling instruction to not let Drey enter the drug trade is his own destruction. That point of panic turns into something approaching penance.

September 24, 2010 | Rating: 4/4

Nick Rogers
The Film Yap…

Plot
Young Caucasian Dan Dunne teaches history and coaches the girls basketball team at a Brooklyn high school populated primarily by black and Hispanic students. To the chagrin of his superiors, Dan bucks the outlined curriculum of historical facts in favor of the philosophy of historical events, generally discussing the concept of dialectics. As such, he captures the imagination of his students, at least in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, Dan’s life is in shambles. He has a distant but cordial relationship with his family. He uses illicit drugs rampantly. Although his former girlfriend Rachel was able to clean up her drug habit, Dan believes that rehab will not work for him. Due to a combination of these issues, he treats women poorly. Thirteen-year-old Drey is a student in his class and a player on his basketball team. Drey has her own problems. Her parents are divorced, with her father a virtually non-existent figure in her life and her EMT mother generally absent as she is always working to provide for Drey. Her older brother Mike is incarcerated for selling drugs for a local dealer named Frank. Mike took the fall for Frank, who in turn protects Drey whether she wants to be associated with him or not. Dan and Drey’s relationship changes when Drey catches Dan, believing he is alone, smoking crack in the girl’s locker room bathroom. He is totally stoned. Their resulting friendship, which is seen as inappropriate by the few who know, is based on each being unable to deal with their own life, but feeling like they can be at least a minor salvation in the other’s life.

Trivia