BEAUTIFUL BOY

Your daddy’s here…

OUT 18 JANUARY

Based on David Sheff’s memoir about his teen son Nic’s methamphetamine dependency, this earnest adap is highly commendable as far as its message and intentions go. But telling important truths about addiction’s indiscriminate and grubby hold doesn’t necessarily make for great cinema.

Sheff’s heartbreaking account of his boy’s opioid battle is painfully and necessarily repetitive; Felix van Groeningen’s faithful dramatisation of events is Sisyphean and sincere to the point of feeling somewhat like a public service film.

And perhaps that’s the point – fighting addiction is boring, frustrating and horribly predictable for everyone involved – but it doesn’t make for a fully satisfying cinematic journey. Still, that’s no fault of Steve Carell (playing David) and Timothée Chalamet (Nic). The leads make the father/son dynamic tangible and lived-in, with Chalamet committing to the role with an intensity that is rightfully as repellent and sad as it is sympathetic and desperate. But while the lensing of the San Francisco area is dreamy, musical cues are a little too on-the-nose and heavy-handed. Jane Crowther

THE VERDICT

Fine performances elevate a workmanlike movie that’s oddly cold, despite the hard-hitting dramatics.

CERTIFICATE 15 DIRECTOR Felix van Groeningen STARRINGSteve Carell, Timothée Chalamet SCREENPLAY Felix van Groeningen, Luke Davies DISTRIBUTOR Studiocanal RUNNING TIME 120 mins Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet excel as the father and son attempting to beat the teen’s drug addiction.