At its best, “Beautiful Boy” is a heartbreaking paternal detective story, with David Sheff (Steve Carell) undergoing a painful cycle of fear and resentment as he tries to help with his college-aged son Nic (Timothy Chalamet) overcome a debilitating drug addiction.
At its worst, this somber drama about family estrangement wallows in grief with a borderline sadistic intensity.
With lesser performances, it would crumble under the manipulative weight of unearned gravitas, but these two actors transcend the material at every turn.
Chalamet, a heartthrob unafraid to tackle unglamorous material, so embodies the tragic struggles of a drug-addled young man it’s a wonder he made it through the production, while Carell’s melancholic eyes absorb every detail.
It’s a haunting two-hander that allows their talent to tower over everything else.Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen knows this breed of feel-bad cinema all too well.
Prior to this English-language debut,
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