Enora Maurer

Personal enjoyment: ★★★
USA
Director: Felix van Groeningen
Starring: Timothée Chalamet (Nic Sheff), Steve Carell (David Sheff), Amy Ryan (Vicki Sheff), Maura Tierney (Karen Barbour)
Genre: Drama, Biography
Running time: 120 minutes

I automatically compared this movie to Ben is Back (2018), which I also saw this year. Both are about young drug addicts and how their addiction affects their family. Beautiful Boy even more so, I think, as the father-son relationship and how it develops is very much put forward.

Even though I liked Ben is Back, I think I liked Beautiful Boy better, not only because I enjoyed watching Timothée Chalamant’s performance, but also because it contains a wider scale of life aspects. The daily struggles Nic encounters, as in getting money for the drugs, his relapses, his recoveries and his relationship with other addicts is much more discussed in this movie.

Moreover, I enjoyed recognizing Andre Royo aka „Bubbles“ from The Wire (2002-2008) who performed Nic’s sponsor!