On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 322 reviews, with an average rating of 9.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Epic in technical scale but breathlessly intimate in narrative scope, "Boyhood" is a sprawling investigation of the human condition." On Metacritic, the film has a perfect score of 100 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is the highest rated of all films reviewed upon their original release on the site, and one of only eight films in the site's history to achieve a perfect aggregate score. It also holds the highest number of reviews for a film with a score of 100.