BEAUTIFUL BOY – Rated R – 2 hrs.
DIRECTOR: Felix Van Groeningen
WRITER: Luke Davies, Felix Van Groeningen
STARRING: Timothee Chalamet, Steve Carell, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan and Kaitlyn Dever
Based on the memoirs/books by David and Nic Sheff – we meet Nic (Timothee Chalamet) cruising through high school – or so he pretends – as alcohol and drug addiction have become his true “BEST FRIENDS”.
As his father David (Steve Carell) realizes that his son’s life if reeling out of control, he tries desperately to help his son find his way back to leading “a normal life” …
Struggling to get sober, and stay there, with the support of his Dad, step mother Karen (Maura Tierney), and newly engaged to his situation Mom Vicky (Amy Ryan), it seems that even with everyone rallying around him, Nic still can’t seem to reach the other side of addiction…as he continues to destroy those around him, including new girlfriend Lauren (Kaitlyn Dever), leaving everyone in his wake…
I give BEAUTIFUL BOY a rating between MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN and WAIT AND CATCH THIS FILM ON DVD! Timothee Chalamet is fabulous as Nic, as a Golden Globe and Oscar nod should definitely be coming his way this year from this film, and his performance alone is the ONLY REASON why BEAUTIFUL BOY is receiving this rating from me. Sadly, Carell’s performance was rather mediocre, as with all the emotions and heartache that should be playing out from this true storyline, his own emotions to the circumstances surrounding him are practically non-existent. Maura Tierney’s performance is even less emotionally charged, which was sad too, as I love her in “THE AFFAIR” on SHOWTIME, but she must have been drained from filming that series, as she brought little of her superb acting skills to the set for this film. I also was surprised at how this film didn’t seem to evoke too many feelings from me, as the viewer, emotionally either. I would have thought with the subject matter of addiction that from one frame to the next this film would be ripping my heart out – and periodically, when Chalamet was on screen, it did, but only when the scene was totally focused on him, and whatever circumstance he was fighting through. Suffice to say, if you loved Chalamet in last year’s CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, which garnered him a nomination for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar, and you want to see why he is worthy of a nod again this year, then by all means, head out to a theater near you this weekend to catch him, but if you are thinking that this film is going to be deeply moving, or thought provoking on the struggle and destruction caused by addiction, well, you are going to be greatly disappointed…so I suggest you wait and catch this film when it hits on DVD!
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 