ReelBob: ‘Beautiful Boy’ ★★★

By Bob Bloom

Some scenes in “Beautiful Boy” are heartbreaking; others will anger you; and still others may frighten you — especially if you are parent.

“Beautiful Boy,” based on books by father and son David and Nic Sheff, tells of Nic’s addiction to various drugs, including heroin and crystal meth, and his father’s many attempts — most of them futile — to help his son find the road to recovery.

The movie refuses to offer easy explanations for Nic’s addiction. His parents divorced when Nic was a youngster, and his father remarried, but there are no conflicts or issues between Nic and his stepmother, Karen (Maura Tierney), nor his young half-siblings.

Nic appears to be surrounded by a loving and supportive environment.

We never truly learn what set Nic on the path to addiction because “Beautiful Boy” mostly looks forward, not back.

Director Felix Van Groeningen, who cowrote the script with Luke Davies, offers a few revelations about Nic’s mental state. The teen worries that he is not living up to his potential or to his parents’ expectations and is a disappointment to his father.

Yet, no such dynamic is shown. Nic and David are close — they bond over surfing and seem to have open lines of communication.

What drives “Beautiful Boy” are the performances of Timothée Chalamet as Nic and Steve Carell as David.

Chalamet, so memorable in “Call Me by Your Name,” has a knack for portrayals of young men who feel uncomfortable in their own shoes — and are constantly seeking answers about who they are and what their purpose should be.

Chalamet makes you want to protectively embrace Nic, while simultaneously sternly lecture him about his choices.

His Nic frustrates you, yet you also want to care for him.

Carell, who seems to take on dramatic roles released during awards season — “Last Flag Flying,” “Foxcatcher” and “The Big Short” are such examples — rends your heart as a father continually seeking answers and trying to fix his son, all to no avail.

His David is ready to put Karen and their two young children aside to rush to Nic’s aid whenever he can.

It’s a shattering moment when David realizes that he cannot be the person to save Nic — that freeing his son from addiction must be a process Nic undertakes on his own.

In supporting roles, Tierney shows patience and understanding, but also a smoldering sadness and anger at what Nic’s behavior is doing to his father and their family.

Amy Ryan as Vicki, Nic’s mother, aptly displays the helplessness of a parent who does not know where to turn and fails to find solutions for her son’s illness.

The film is a bit confusing at some moments, as it jumps back and forth in time, losing us for a few beats, until we realize that David is reminiscing about Nic as a youngster and trying to figure out where he may have failed as a parent.

My other quibble with the movie is the socioeconomic details of the Sheff family. They live in California, where David is a free-lance writer, while Karen is a painter. They reside in a splendid home and do not seem to have any financial worries.

Does this allow us to more easily relate to Nic’s problems or does that make the movie a cautionary tale, telling us that the addiction epidemic is not restricted to one class or race of people?

I choose the latter explanation, but you also ponder, while watching the movie, if you would be able to relate to the Sheffs so readily if they had been a blue-collar family living from paycheck-to-paycheck in Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania or Indiana?

That is a discussion for another time and place.

“Beautiful Boy” is a movie that will make you want to hug your children tighter — no matter what their age.

I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

BEAUTIFUL BOY
3 stars out of 4
(R), drug content throughout, language, sexual situations