Beautiful Boy was released on October 12, 2018. It stars Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell and was directed by Felix Van Groeningen. It was based on a book of the same name by David Sheff. Like the book, the film chronicles Sheff’s struggle to help save his son from meth addiction. 

Probably the strongest aspect of this film is the performances. Steve Carell is fantastic and convincing as a father struggling to help his son, and, as Steve Carell, is extremely easy to get attached to and to empathize with. However, there were moments in his performance that took me out of the film. When Carell yells, his vocal cadence matches that of his character Michael Scott from The Office, and as such, when he yells, I had a hard time holding back laughter because I thought, “what crazy hijinks is that Michael up to today?” Timothee Chalamet did a great job as the meth addicted son of David Sheff (in part because he already looks like he is addicted to meth) and gave great emotional depth to the role. He makes this abusive, manipulative, brash character likeable and forces the audience to identify with him and his struggles. The supporting performances were all strong, such as one from Amy Ryan as Chalamet’s stepmother, who is clearly devastated by Chalamet’s character’s behaviors. The child actors who play Carell’s character’s children were surprisingly effective and did not annoy the audience. The soundtrack is also fantastic, using songs from David Bowie’s Low to highlight major stages in Nic Sheff’s (Chalamet) addiction and is used extremely well to contrast his past with his present and to highlight major points in the film. Also, the songs tended to be good. The direction was also fantastic. The camera’s framing is strong and reflects the character’s emotional state. Innovative techniques were used to demonstrate Sheff’s struggles with addiction. 

My least favorite aspect was the cinematography. The lighting was that muted, drab, and gray that looks nothing like the real world and serves only to make the audience feel “sad.” It takes the viewer out of the movie and makes it harder to understand the characters because when it makes one think “I’m just watching a movie.” This lighting is especially terrible due to the structure of this film, which weaves in and out of flashbacks, and the otherwise effective contrast between periods in Sheff’s life in this non-narrative structure. Sometimes the dialogue undercut more emotional moments in the story and made the story’s impact lessen.  

Overall this film was quite good. The message of it is especially important while we are in the depths of the opioid crisis and dehumanization of addicts is rampant. I give this film eight “not as good as the books” out of ten.