Beautiful Boy

THE bowlers are a snug fit for Steve Coogan and John C Reilly in this lovely film about their later years. OLIVIA Colman fully deserves her Golden Globe for a riotous turn in a bawdy flick about Queen Anne. THE original supernanny flies back into cinemas with Disney’s entertaining sequel to their 1964 musical hit. Emily Blunt stars.

ANDY’S RATING: ★★★★ In cinemas on Friday

“THERE are moments that I look at him, this kid that I raised, who I

thought I knew inside and out, and I wonder who he is,” David Sheff

(Steve Carell) says at the beginning of this touching drama. David is talking about his eldest son Nic (Timothée Chalamet), a good-looking teenager who has been accepted by every university to which he has applied.

Despite being a heroically great dad, David feels powerless to stop his son destroying his life after becoming hopelessly addicted to crystal meth.

Why Nic has turned to drugs is the film’s central mystery.

We are never given an answer, making it both refreshingly honest and slightly frustrating.

Nic’s parents are divorced, but that isn’t held up as an explanation.

Flashbacks show he enjoyed an idyllic childhood in a beautiful house.

He has a caring step-mother and touching relationships with his two young half-siblings.

Instead, Belgian director Felix van Groeningen focuses on the psychological impact his addiction has on his family.

When David watches his daughter in a school play his mind is clearly elsewhere.

Nic may have a very close relationship with his father, but his brother and sister will have very different memories.

The film can be a hard watch, although Carell and Chalamet have never been better.