Sam Riley, as Sal Paradise, the Kerouac figure, is almost as darkly handsome as Kerouac was, and the slender Tom Sturridge, with his big glasses, is charmingly silly as a sex-and-poetry-addled version of the young Allen Ginsberg.

NEWYORKER: On the Road

The handsome star is almost unrecognizable in the movie. (Based on the posters, many people even thought it was Elijah Wood playing the Mad Hatter).

FORBES: Magazine Article

The cinematographer, Frederick Elmes, produces an even, gray light that is quite handsome in a neutralizing way but also sobering and almost punitive it says that the American banality in which the characters live is all there is.

NEWYORKER: Broken Flowers

Jamal is played as an adult by Dev Patel, a hugely appealing young star, not conventionally handsome, who has mastered the art of suggesting by withholding -- you can almost see Jamal's thoughts in process -- along with the risky business of putting his character heedlessly out there when love or danger demand it.

WSJ: 'Slumdog' Finds Riches in Poor Boy's Tale