Beautiful Boy
2018, Biography/Drama, 1h 52m
258 Reviews 2,500+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
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. Read critic reviews
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Cast & Crew
David Sheff
Nic Sheff
Karen Barbour
Vicki
Dr. Brown
Lauren
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Critic Reviews for Beautiful Boy
All Critics (258) | Top Critics (67) | Fresh (175) | Rotten (83)
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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.
March 4, 2019 | Full Review… -
I would be lying if I didn't say that I found it moving.
January 29, 2019 | Full Review… -
Beautiful Boy has a remorseless emotional integrity... It is frustrating, repetitive and inconclusive, and all the more admirable for it.
January 26, 2019 | Full Review… -
I loved watching it. It's fantastically enjoyable.
January 20, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review… -
Mimicking the relapse-recovery cycle of addiction, the film's timeline moves in unsatisfying narrative circles that stall the already shallow stakes.
January 20, 2019 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review… -
The lack of any kind of third act doesn't even allow it to pass for a solid "disease of the week" picture.
January 18, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Beautiful Boy
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Jan 15, 2019BEAUTIFUL BOY (2 Stars) Ugh. This isn't even a movie. There's no real story. It just keeps repeating itself to death and then ends. Yes, it mirrors the cycle of addiction that plague so many people, but that doesn't make for good storytelling. Timothée Chalamet does some great work when portraying his character's addiction to heroin, but I never believed him as a meth addict. There's a distinction that I don't think he quite captured. 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. Major points deducted for the terrible choice to edit a montage to "Sunrise/Sunset" from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Who thought that worked? I want names!!Glenn G Super Reviewer
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Jan 09, 2019One of the best and most moving movie endings I have seen, the film is well paced but the out of order story line can confuse. This version leaves a lot to be desired from the book, but the score picks it up and it soars. Timothee underwent a brilliant transformation to bring this character to light, some of his co stars also shine.Super Reviewer
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Dec 10, 2018It 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. Needless to say, Beautiful Boy has no groove to be found. 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. 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). 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. It's kind of a weird movie too, but worse is the fact it's a boring weird movie. 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. 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.Philip P Super Reviewer
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Nov 25, 2018The 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.Carlos M Super Reviewer
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