Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy is a biographical drama based on the real memoirs of David and Nic Scheff. The film follows a father’s long struggle to try and help his son through his dangerous drug addiction. This film is not an easy watch: graphic scenes of drug use and overdose are very distressing and I had to look away at certain moments. The performances in the film are its strongest asset, as each cast member delivers a realistic and impressive display of hopelessness and frustration in the face of addiction, especially Timothée Chalamet. The film also successfully displays the way in which one person’s problem affects everyone they love and how difficult it is to watch someone hurt themselves. Unfortunately, the high quality of the acting and overall message is not enough to balance the repetitive nature of the film that made it so tough for me to stay interested. Naturally, Nic is on a constant cycle of becoming clean, disappearing and getting hooked again, therefore it is totally understandable why the film feels like the same sequence of scenes being played over and over again. However, this realistic approach doesn’t make for an engaging film. My mind wandered at least a dozen times during the film, as I felt I wouldn’t be missing anything except another relapse or stint in rehab. There were powerful moments that helped me to connect to the characters, but there weren’t enough to maintain my focus. If I’m being honest, I was bored for the majority of the film and I felt relieved at the sight of the final credits. I also thought some of the ways the director showed the audience how the characters were feeling or what they were experiencing were unoriginal, such as Google searches and flipping through a diary. The shifts between time periods were confusing at the beginning, which led to me initially struggling to feel close to the characters. I think my lack of experience as a parent or a drug addict lent heavily to my struggle to find the story gripping, therefore if you have ever been in the experience of the characters you may become very emotional and feel a stronger connection to the film as a whole. Despite the film’s important theme and powerful acting, the tedious plot left me bored and I would only recommend to someone searching for a film reflecting their own experiences with addiction.

Go watch! Seriously, how good is that Steve Carell guy. Amazing watch.