Ugh. It was made with earnest care and honorable intentions, and concludes with a recitation of one of Charles Bukowski’s best … Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified. Germaine Greer is hardly a stranger to controversy, but her 2003 book The Boy is outrageously provocative even by her standards. It’s almost too pretty in a self-consciously artful way, and that overriding aesthetic suffocates the underlying truth of the lead actors’ performances. The percentage of users who rated this 3.5 stars or higher. ‘Beautiful Boy’ Review: Recovery, Relapse, Repeat. By Sandy Schaefer Nov 09, 2018. There’s hope, and then there isn’t, and then there’s hope again. Coming Soon. March 4, 2019 imagine this but repeated every 20 minutes over the course of 2 hours and you have beautiful boy (2018) Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 28. They can see where David could’ve done better—the mistakes that David … Carell and Chalamet are both so good, you long to see them simply interact with each other for an extended period. The image is an example of a ticket confirmation email that AMC sent you when you purchased your ticket. Sidney Poitier’s 7 Most Memorable Performances, All Harry Potter Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer. Despite some tender and heart … But what they wind up doing overall is detracting from the actors’ strong performances. Having not read the source material this may immediately mean less to me, but the structuring of this story as its done in the film doesn't help. Beautiful Boy is really a story of two addictions—of a son to drugs and of a parent to his child, or at least his ideal version of him. It's fantastically enjoyable. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 69% based on 246 reviews, with an average rating of 6.52/10. Beautiful Boy sees Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell delivering showcase work that's often powerful enough to make up for the story's muted emotional impact. Teenager Nicolas Sheff seems to have it all -- good grades, editor of the school newspaper, actor, artist and athlete. “Relapse is a part of recovery.” That’s what the specialist at the clinic tells David Sheff (Steve Carell) the first time his teenage son, Nic (Timothée Chalamet), runs out on rehab. Chalamet has so many relapses that we grow increasingly frustrated, which I suppose is the point. Beautiful Boy is a must-see for everyone. Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years. Forgot your password? But too often, the film relies on painfully on-the-nose song choices to punctuate a scene or express what its characters are feeling. | Top Critics (67) There's no real story. Rehab leads to a halfway house leads to another relapse. Spike Lee Recieves American Cinematheque Award, America Has to Come to a Reckoning: Director Sam Pollard on MLK/FBI, The TV Homages of WandaVision are an Amusing, Unfulfilling Distraction. |, January 18, 2019 We never spend long enough periods with either of the characters to garner any real sympathy for them-not until the end anyway when Carell brings it all home. and the Terms and Policies, In his first major role since his star-making turn in “Call Me by Your Name,” Chalamet plays Nic Sheff, a college-bound 18-year-old with a promising future ahead of him. Since “Beautiful Boy” is told mostly from his perspective, Nic remains a tantalizing enigma. What often ends up happening is that we see the same sorts of manifestations of the damage it can cause, both to the abuser and to the people who love that person, … Write a review. All Critics (255) There might have been more power—and beauty—in a more understated approach all around. “Beautiful Boy” jumps all over the place in time, needlessly cutting to flashbacks and flash-forwards in ways that are more than just confusing. Based on complementary memoirs by a … Every single aspect of these people's lives revolves around coping with addiction and addiction itself, but there has to be more in order to have the audience invest in these lives. Share Share Tweet Email. The story's impact is almost diluted by the film's editing (with its jumps in time and flashbacks within flashbacks) and questionable choice of music, which makes it kind of emotionally stiff, even though that is compensated by two amazing performances by Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell. It’s a heartbreaking true story and one that surely will resonate with viewers who’ve experienced addiction themselves. Mimicking the relapse-recovery cycle of addiction, the film's timeline moves in unsatisfying narrative circles that stall the already shallow stakes. Christy reviewed films for The Associated Press for over 14 years. They repeatedly take us out of the moment, especially as the film is building to its emotional crescendo. | Rating: 2/5 Rated R This is a very hard movie to watch, simply for its heavy subject matter. Comment. | Fresh (172) | Rotten (83). Beautiful Boy is well-acted and handles a sensitive topic with the care it deserves, yet ends up being an 'important' film more than a well-made one. Major points deducted for the terrible choice to edit a montage to "Sunrise/Sunset" from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. ‘Beautiful Boy’ Review: A Vicious Cycle This tale of a caring father and his drug-addicted son stars Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet. I loved watching it. Share Share Tweet Email Comment. The website's critical consensus reads, " Beautiful Boy sees Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell delivering showcase work that's often powerful enough to make up for the story's muted emotional impact." Beautiful Boy sees Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell delivering showcase work that's often powerful enough to make up for the story's muted emotional impact. Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 Rosalynn Try-Hane Liquid Marmalade |, July 30, 2020 It's a little like watching snippets from a better film, while the filmmaker stands on your shoulder and repeatedly yells the word 'cry' directly into your ear canal. Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password. |, January 20, 2019 Steve Carell here has that annoying high pitch in his voice we typically see from Tom Cruise when he plays an end-of-his-rope character. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. Cinemark It's kind of a weird movie too, but worse is the fact it's a boring weird movie. |, October 2, 2020 To this distraught parent, it sounds like a canned platitude—and maybe it is, at least in the sense that they dust it off every time someone under their care falls off the wagon. Told from the perspective of people living through this nightmare, the story is incredibly straightforward and forgettable, when it should be shocking, … Often, they evoke a sense of melancholy for an earlier, simpler time. I would be lying if I didn't say that I found it moving. Regal There are no approved quotes yet for this movie. Coming Soon. Beautiful Boy Review: Chalamet & Carell Shine in Drug Addiction Drama. Beautiful Boy is absolutely nowhere near anything of this calibre. The rawness of the film, mixed with the undying love between father (Steve Carell) and son (Timothee Chalamet) sets it up as a moving masterpiece that is unforgettable. |, January 29, 2019 Still, David struggles to do just that, mostly on his own but with some help from his artist wife (Maura Tierney), with whom he has two young kids, and his ex-wife (Amy Ryan), who can only do so much to save her son by phone from Los Angeles. But there’s a gauzy detachment in Van Groeningen’s approach that keeps it from achieving the kind emotional wallop it seemingly intended. 3.5 Stars Beautiful Boy is a memoir written by David Sheff about his experiences as he tried to save his teenage son from drug addiction. for drug content throughout, language, and brief sexual material. You can find Christy's writing at ChristyLemire.com. |, August 29, 2020 Jan 19, 2009 Dfordoom rated it it was amazing. This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. When Nic's addiction to meth threatens to destroy him, his desperate father does whatever he can to save his son and his family. Coming Soon, Regal Beautiful Boy was an incredibly informative reading experience for me personally. “Beautiful Boy” is a harrowing, eye-opening, and beautiful true story. Chalamet, making good on the tremendous promise he showed in Call Me by Your Name , gets the showier role, while Carell tends more toward the blankness of his work in Foxcatcher , minus the sociopathic tinge. Beautiful Boy begins at what seems like rock bottom, but there are plenty more rock bottoms to come, as well as multiple instances of false hope.Nic enters … |, January 26, 2019 Director and co-writer Felix Van Groeningen mostly avoids those familiar horrors in “Beautiful Boy,” instead depicting one young man’s struggles with methamphetamine as a series of sun-dappled, time-hopping vignettes. Sign up here. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy Beautiful Boy is candid and naturalistic. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. All rights reserved. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that Beautiful Boy is not a particularly family-friendly movie. As the father who’s constantly trying to rescue him, Carell undergoes his own roller coaster ride. Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet offer deeply felt work in bringing the story of father and son David and Nic Sheff to life. | Rating: 2/5 Directed by Felix van Groeningen. Beautiful Boy is one of those movies. The preliminary version of “Beautiful Boy” was a tough 2005 article in The New York Times Magazine, “My Addicted Son.” In expanding it into a … There are some gut-wrenching emotional truths in Beautiful Boy that elevate it beyond a prestige after-school special. Don't have an account? |. These include Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings” and a silky-smooth Perry Como cover of “Sunrise, Sunset.” The soundtrack goes beyond commenting on the action to actively distracting from it. Christy Lemire is a co-host of the YouTube film review show "What the Flick?!" ‘Beautiful Boy’: Carell, Chalamet Star in Gut-Wrenching Addiction Drama Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet star as father and son in this powerful drug-addiction drama based on … Who thought that worked? By Matt Goldberg Oct 12, 2018. Addiction is a tricky phenomenon to depict on screen because it’s such an insidious, internal disease. We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future. This book may do a better job at capturing the attention of readers who are parents themselves or have a family member or friend who suffers from addiction. Beautiful Boy Critics Consensus. His father’s efforts to pull him away from the brink—over and over again, with increasingly fruitless results—provides some semblance of a stable throughline. You're almost there! Review A professional critic’s assessment of a service, product, performance, or artistic or literary work ‘Beautiful Boy’ is a tour de force for Timothée Chalamet. It is frustrating, repetitive and inconclusive, and all the more admirable for it. R (Drug Content Throughout|Brief Sexual Material|Language), drama, |, January 20, 2019 I want names!! Beautiful Boy review – screamingly cliched view of drug addiction 2 / 5 stars 2 out of 5 stars. And for some Christian adults who sit through this movie, Beautiful Boy may even stir something like … pride? Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. Maybe these wisps of memories are meant to reflect the characters’ inner state of chaos. It's not hard to see what the film is trying to do in telling the two parallel perspectives of the father and the son caught in this battle with addiction, but in doing so what results is a disjointed mess of a movie (at least upon first watch). Twitching and raging through highs and lows, Chalamet is James Dean-ing the hell out of the role. Timothée Chalamet does some great work when portraying his character's addiction to heroin, but I never believed him as a meth addict. The percentage of Approved Tomatometer Critics who have given this movie a positive review. | Rating: 3/5 This version leaves a lot to be desired from the book, but the score picks it up and it soars. Van Groeningen, the Belgian filmmaker whose “The Broken Circle Breakdown” earned a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination in 2014, creates a vivid sense of place in remote, woodsy Marin County, California, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. She describes it as an attempt to reclaim women’s visual pleasure in the contemplation of male beauty, but it’s the … I adore Steve Carell and Timothï¿ 1/2 (C)e Chalamet seems like a genuinely nice, cool, and grateful kid, but even their strenuous performances feel exhausting and void of any tangible pathos. This penchant for explicit articulation can sometimes seem ill-conceived and too didactic ... and the film's narrative beats scan as fairly standard for an addiction drama. Addiction is a tricky phenomenon to depict on screen because it’s such an insidious, internal disease. Anyone who’s ever dealt with an addict can sympathize: You can love someone, but you try as you may, you can’t fix them. biography, Rotten Tomatoes Predicts the Oscar Winners, The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2019 Oscar Nominations. Yes, this is a lavishly illustrated portfolio of paintings, drawings and photographs of boys before they become men, but the point of departure here is that Greer is examining a perception process among women paralleling the … and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. There's an emptiness to this story, and it's a shame because Chalamet could've really given us the depths of what was going on in this kids life. She's also on Twitter @christylemire and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/christy.lemire2. THE BEAUTIFUL BOY by noted writer, critic and feminist Germaine Greer is one of the more refreshing art volumes to grace the shelves in the past decade. Yes, it mirrors the cycle of addiction that plague so many people, but that doesn't make for good storytelling. 0. BEAUTIFUL BOY (2 Stars) Don’t worry, it won’t take long. With Steve Carell, Maura Tierney, Jack Dylan Grazer, Oakley Bull. Timothee underwent a brilliant transformation to bring this character to light, some of his co stars also shine. 47 talking about this. I was nervous about this film going in, being a big admirer of the book. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. |, October 22, 2020 Our hearts go out to it, but we're ultimately let down. Tweet. Your AMC Ticket Confirmation# can be found in your order confirmation email. But the non-linear narrative in the script co-written by Luke Davies too often strips the story of its potential power. “Beautiful Boy” is not a bad movie. The fact that he’s mostly measured and methodical makes the rare moments when he explodes that much more startling. Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers. It’s filled with drug use and cursing and a lot of seriously uncomfortable behavior. Reviews Beautiful Boy Christy Lemire October 12, 2018. It felt like it was taking this a long time to really find its groove and then I checked my phone to see where we were time-wise and it was an hour and a half in. Beautiful Boy is a one-note, prosaic, on-the-nose look at drug addiction that’s set up as a showcase for two fine actors. |, August 5, 2020 “Beautiful Boy” is based on both of their memoirs: David’s Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction and Nic’s Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines. It deserves Oscar nominations for Timothee Chalamet, adapted screenplay, cinematography, and directing. It just keeps repeating itself to death and then ends. Just confirm how you got your ticket. In fact, it's probably more successful as a kind of instructional installation for relatives of people going through addiction than it is as a film evoking emotions. Copyright © Fandango. 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