Beautiful Boy
Synopsis
To confront the truth, first they had to face each other.
A married couple on the verge of separation are leveled by the news their 18-year-old son committed a mass shooting at his college, then took his own life.
Popular reviews
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Comparisons with We Need to Talk About Kevin are unavoidable when discussing Beautiful Boy seeing as both deal with the aftermath of a mass killing and how the parents of the killer come to terms with their grief. However, both films approach the subject from very different angles. Where Lynne Ramsay’s film was striking and provocative, this debut theatrical release from writer-director, Shawn Ku, is subdued and sensitive.
Here the killer comes from a normal loving family and his act of unspeakable horror comes as a shock to everyone. This is undoubtedly a more likely scenario than the murderer-in-the-making direction of We Need to Talk About Kevin. In the film the distant husband and wife struggle to come to terms…
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It's nearly impossible for me NOT to compare this to We Need To Talk About Kevin, since the subject matter is quite similar; fortunately the films themselves are vastly different.
Kevin takes a detached look, almost floating around Swinton's life and observing from above how her life has been changed by her son's actions, and would could have led him there, substituting the human drama with flashy camera work and stylish set pieces and making the kid an almost Lucifer-like caricature. Beautiful Boy grabs you and throws you right into the middle of this family drama; you become a participant, dealing with the struggles of both parents as they try to make sense of what happened and keep themselves afloat.…
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Touching on similar themes to We Need To Talk About Kevin, Martin Sheen and Maria Bello play a couple in a frosty relationship who's son carries out a Virginia Tech style massacre at his university before turning the gun on himself.
It's a harrowing film with no real answers, and both leads give strong performances (although I always have trouble with Sheen using an American accent) as they try to come to terms with what has happened, and their own responsibility as parents. It's not as successful as WNTTAK and is formally less interesting, but several scenes have real power.
Hardly a fun watch but worth seeing.
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A tough drama which shows the impact on parents of a student who carried out a mass shooting in a college, Great performances from Sheen & Bello as they face every parents nightmare,
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Beautiful Boy, AKA We Need to Talk About How Fucking Tedious This Movie Is.
Okay, so this came out before We Need to Talk About Kevin, but I wanted to make a joke, goddamn it. In any case, both films explore the aftermath of a school massacre and how it affects the parents of the killer. Unlike Kevin, Beautiful Boy doesn't delve into the shooter's mindset prior to the killing, which is certainly a valid choice. Unfortunately, except for some heavy-handed poetry, we never come to understand why he would snap, nor very much about him at all. Kyle Gallner plays the shooter, which, yeah. Look at the kid. Maria Bello and Michael Sheen play his parents; I don't particularly…
Recent reviews
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Interesting, engaging and well-acted but I didn't connect with it emotionally and I feel like that ultimately hindered the impact it had on me.
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Sheen and Bello hit notes of despair and anguish, with hardly a moment to escape. Bleak stuff.
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Upsetting
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This is an honest and realistic film from the perspective of the parents of a school shooter. The subject is a difficult one to handle but Beautiful Boy does it quite well. Bello and Sheen are both extremely good.
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Michael Sheen and Maria Bello play a seperating couple suffering the loss of a son, but a son that just shot up his college killing many students then taking his own life, here we see the torment and consequences of his actions on the parents left behind, as they not only deal with the loss, but the guilt as to why and their own future. the film works as a solid drama thanks to the two leads, they really work here, a emotional film too, and getting to the heart of some issues. a worthy effort
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BEAUTIFUL BOY is about a married couple on the verge of divorce. Just as they’re preparing to take one final vacation with Sammy, their college-aged son, and to make the ultimate decision on their relationship, he goes on a campus shooting spree, then kills himself.
It’s a depressing subject but an interesting one too, especially the idea that this couple who before wanted nothing to do with each other, now only have one another to get through this unspeakable time.
But it never goes deep enough. It seems as if as soon as they finish shedding the initial tears, they move right along, not at all acting as you would imagine a parent in that situation to act. I feel…
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A tough drama which shows the impact on parents of a student who carried out a mass shooting in a college, Great performances from Sheen & Bello as they face every parents nightmare,
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I love Maria Bello, and again she shines in this movie that resonates more and more with shootings in schools in America. I think Martin Sheen is miscast as he doesnt convince as an American but I still enjoyed the movie as a study on love and loss in a family.
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Comparisons with We Need to Talk About Kevin are unavoidable when discussing Beautiful Boy seeing as both deal with the aftermath of a mass killing and how the parents of the killer come to terms with their grief. However, both films approach the subject from very different angles. Where Lynne Ramsay’s film was striking and provocative, this debut theatrical release from writer-director, Shawn Ku, is subdued and sensitive.
Here the killer comes from a normal loving family and his act of unspeakable horror comes as a shock to everyone. This is undoubtedly a more likely scenario than the murderer-in-the-making direction of We Need to Talk About Kevin. In the film the distant husband and wife struggle to come to terms…