Review of Boy Erased (2018) by Jjj — 17 Mar 2019

I’ve always known instinctively that conversion therapy is a horrid practice but watching a family have to deal with this was gut-wrenching. This central belief, this twisted fallacy that being gay is a ‘sin’ has wrought so much pain and destruction that it is the real sin.

Each person in this story, from Jared, his parents, his ‘girlfriend’, the other kids at the camp and even the ‘counselors’ are all victims of this ugly fallacy. This movie really brought that home to me.

With one exception, no one is the ‘Bad Guy.’ Edgerton doesn’t make it that clean and easy for his audience. He doesn’t facilitate some amusement park ride with Hollywood payoffs. He tells the story with the respect that these are real people.

Well done. Points off for casting Flea given his bands reputation for misogyny although he was quite good in the role.