Review of Beautiful Boy (2018) by Ray H — 30 Oct 2018

Beautiful Boy is a film about drug addiction and no matter how hard you try to break free of it, it will still try to chase you down. Based on the true story of Nic Sheff (Timothee Chalamet) who is a promising writer with a future bright as you could have and his fall into addiction, recovery and relapse.

It's about Nic's relationship with his father David (Steve Carrell), also a writer and whose book the film is named after, and how he also falls victim to the drugs but not through addiction through watching helplessly as Nic is consumed by them.

As David has remarried and has two young kids there are limits on how far he'll go to save his son but also protect his family. There are some gut wrenching scenes, Carrell is brilliant and Chalamet is headed for an Oscar nomination for his performance.

It's heavy, but could have been heavier, and while the ending leaves you with hope it also leaves you drained. An important film that I reckon could've been a 10 with a better narrative style and a bit more of the 'how' question answered.