Chronicling the true story of Nic Sheff’s addiction to methamphetamines and journey to recovery, Beautiful Boy is Felix Van Groeningen’s adaptation of Sheff’s memoir, Tweak, and his father David Sheff’s memoir Beautiful Boy.
The film is director Van Groeningen’s first in English after receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards for The Broken Circle Breakdown. It tells Sheff’s story between the perspectives of Nic and David Sheff with memories of Nic’s childhood intercut throughout the story. Stars Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell keep the movie afloat with stellar performances and support from the unfortunately underused Amy Ryan as Nic’s mother, but the movie mostly falls flat.
Meandering, repetitive, and stuffed with flashbacks that appear to have been intended to provide much more emotional impact than they actually deliver, Beautiful Boy makes its reasonable two hour run time feel much, much longer. I understand that overcoming addiction can be a process that requires repeating the same steps over and over again and that the idea of a single treatment curing an addict of their disease is a harmful one that should be corrected. That being said, the film runs out of material very early on, aside from the inserted flashbacks, but these flashbacks just serve as interruptions and it is difficult to understand why the film’s narrative told in this way.
The kinds of addiction showcased in Beautiful Boy, albeit an honest depiction that seems to have arisen from people who had good intentions, is incredibly limited. Audiences are only shown Nic’s addiction, which he is assisted in fighting by a family who loves and supports him unconditionally and possess ample financial resources that allow him to receive treatment several times over the course of his recovery. There is one moment where David Sheff encounters another youth struggling with her own addiction while searching for Nic, but in this conversation he is unable to believe her when she explains that her family doesn’t care about whether or not she’s on drugs anymore. As more and more young adults in suburbs are becoming addicted to hard drugs, it is important that a film that prides itself on painting an honest portrait of addiction does more than just show the best case scenario. Not everyone who develops an addiction is a straight, white, well-to-do man whose family has endless patience and financial resources to provide a buffet of treatment options. There is no recognition whatsoever that these circumstances are anything but universal.
One aspect of addiction that the film captures well lies in the humanity of its characters, due in large part to the skill of the actors who portrayed them. Nic is never shown as “bad” because of his addiction and even when David’s ability to support his son is tested it is always clear that he still loves him. It is in large part because of this love that Nic is able to fight against his disease and the volatile bond between father and son provides an engaging theme throughout.
I wish that I could recommend this film. Addiction and recovery deserve more public attention than what they get, but this movie does not provide anything close to the perspective that they need. If you are just going to see Chalamet and Carell, you won’t be disappointed and the film looks beautiful. However, I would caution against seeing the film as a sufficient education on drug addiction and warn that its cyclical plot and odd use of flashbacks can make it difficult to watch at times. In addition, I feel it necessary to repeat recoveryfirst.org’s warning that seeing graphic depictions of drug use (which Beautiful Boy is certainly not lacking in) in movies may trigger a relapse for addicts. They advise “avoidance, guidance, or support while watching such films” to combat this.
Rating: 4/10
Noah Harouche is a sophomore in Columbia College.