"Beautiful Boy" Will Leave You Stunned At Its Brutal Honesty Towards Drug Addictions

Spoiler Warning: For the film Beautiful Boy and the TV show U.S. The Office

Steve Carell (left) and Timothée Chalamet (right) are modeled on the Amazon Prime original movie poster for Beautiful Boy.

The two hour Amazon Prime original movie, Beautiful Boy, directed by Felix Van Groeningen is an unexpected triumph that will tug at your heartstrings and leave you wanting more.

Based off of a family by the same name, the story unfolds, as we meet eighteen year old, Nic Sheff, played by award-winning actor, Timothée Chalamet, who at first glance has everything he could ever wish for. From being an aspiring author and artist to being admitted into all six of the colleges he applied for, it would seem that his life was going exactly as he had planned, but it didn’t stay like that for long. We soon learn of his addiction to both drugs and alcohol, which he had been abusing for years. Throughout the movie, we watch his life unravel, as his father David Sheff, played by award-winning actor, Steve Carell, desperately tries to put back together the pieces. In the end, we watch Chalamet’s character hit rock bottom, in the form of an overdose from heroin, landing him once again in the ER. The movie’s ending was grim, with it cutting off on Nic crying into his father's’ arms outside of the hospital.

Unlike other dramas of a similar theme, this specific one doesn’t end in the main character’s miracle recovery and last moment life turn-around. Instead, Beautiful Boy, shows the reality of drug addiction, in that there isn’t an easy way to solve it or make it go away. In fact, this movie is painstakingly authentic, with an ability to move its viewers. It flawlessly shows the difference between the way Hollywood shows events and real life. According to the Nova Recovery Center, an average of around 115 Americans die daily from an opioid overdose which is a higher percentage than deaths from violence and car accidents.

Along with showing just how deadly a drug addiction can be, Beautiful Boy, also shows the human side of those with a drug addiction. We watch Nic Sheff try and fail time after time to regain control of his life as the drugs continue to take over his body and mind, and it’s a painful experience to watch happen. Nobody wants to see a teenager fall under the grasp of drugs, yet it happens all too often and Beautiful Boy details that.

Nic Sheff (Timothée Chalamet; at left) cries after overdose while David Sheff (Steve Carell; at right) comforts him.

As far as the actual movie goes, the writers and casters did an incredible job. Carell and Chalamet truly dived into their roles and showed flawless ranges of emotion throughout the entire movie. The story of Nic and David Sheff was well told and the movie was easy to follow, which is quite rare in movies with flashbacks. Beautiful Boy will have you blinking back tears at its blunt, brutal honesty as to the reality of drug addiction in teens. It used excellently timed flashbacks to show how far Nic Sheff had fallen, from his optimistic younger self. The entire supporting cast adds on to the overall theme of the movie, without overweighting it. The entire movie is balanced in every aspect of its plot.

As a side note, fans of The Office will enjoy watching Carell once again act alongside Amy Ryan. Carell played Michael Scott while Ryan portrayed Holly Flax on the TV show. At the end of season seven, the two characters got engaged and left to Colorado. In Beautiful Boy, Ryan acted out the role of Vicki Sheff, David’s ex-wife, and Nic’s birth mom. While we don’t get to see a whole lot of screen time shared between Carell and Ryan in Beautiful Boy, it’s definitely still a treat to see these two together again.

This is without a doubt a movie that will keep you wanting to come back and re-experience the raw feeling from the first viewing. It's the type of movie that we need more of in our day an age. So if you ever have the time, watch Beautiful Boy, it will move you.







 Please Note: That this article is opinionated. Please leave your comments in the comment section below. Thank you. ~ The Riptide