Beautiful Boy
Amazon Studios | Release Date: October 12, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
16
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
SlateInkoo KangOct 18, 2018
The lack of a precipitating factor, the invisible impulses behind addiction, and the episodic nature of recovery don’t exactly lend themselves to a compelling narrative structure. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 11, 2018
It is hard not to be touched by the testing of paternal love, or by Nic’s fragility. But Beautiful Boy, rather than plumbing the hard emotional depths of its subject, skates on a surface of sentiment and gauzy visual beauty. Read full review
60
CineVueChristopher MachellSep 10, 2018
Far from perfect, and very rarely offering us anything unexpected, Beautiful Boy is nevertheless a well-mounted depiction of the terrible cycle of substance abuse. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 8, 2018
There are moments of crushing emotional weight but as the film progresses, they start to carry less power. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonOct 23, 2018
Carell, Chalamet and their supporting players can only spit-shine a relatively rote addiction story so much; by the time the thrill of their work passes, it’s easy to find oneself waiting for more. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 13, 2018
Whatever the approach, there isn’t enough psychological heft to the drama to make it seem much more than generic. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 6, 2018
It’s not the editor, but the editing strategy that undermines Beautiful Boy. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 17, 2018
As the chief avatar for parental distress, Carell is sympathetic if not always entirely convincing: The toughest moments of Beautiful Boy simply seem out of his range as an actor, especially when he takes reportorial zeal one step too far by trying hard drugs himself. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireOct 12, 2018
It’s almost too pretty in a self-consciously artful way, and that overriding aesthetic suffocates the underlying truth of the lead actors’ performances. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiOct 11, 2018
Carell’s niche right now isn’t awkward anchormen, but parents going through hell. He makes a believable dad to the equally moving Chalamet, who writhes, screams and cries, but never showboats. The perfect pair is better than this movie. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 14, 2018
There is a strange emotional detachment to Felix van Groeningen’s adaptation, which renders the tale needlessly cold. Read full review
50
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 9, 2018
If this was Nic’s story from the start I wouldn’t know a better avenue existed. And if it remained David’s throughout I could continue seeing the teen as the tragic cautionary tale he should be rather than the selfish plot device he becomes. On a purely aesthetic level, however, Beautiful Boy succeeds. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 8, 2018
As enacted here by unquestionably fine actors, this story does not emerge as compelling or convincing, and the film is aggravatingly narrow-minded in its interests. However, if one stays with it all the way to the end, it is absolutely worth sitting still for the end credits, over which is played a monologue by Nic which is the best thing in the picture. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJan 22, 2019
Mimicking the relapse-recovery cycle of addiction, the film’s timeline moves in unsatisfying narrative circles that stall the already shallow stakes. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 16, 2019
Upper-middle-class white privilege does not exempt you from drug problems, but it looks as if it rates you a premium kind of respectful and sorrowing film treatment, something to do, I suspect, with the tremulous father-son ownership of this narrative. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 11, 2018
The root problem is repetitiveness, the seemingly endless cycle of progress and relapse that causes heartbreak in real life and induces déjà vu in audiences — even dejà déjà vu, since there’s repetition within the already familiar pattern. The mosaic structure is simply, though not successfully, an attempt to hold our attention. Read full review
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