Ben Is Back

Name: Ben Is Back
Genre: Drama
Released: December 7, 2018
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Alexandra Park, Candace Smith, Courtney B. Vance, David Zaldivar, Faith Logan

2018

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 56 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 56 Ratings

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Ben Is Back

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Movie Details & Credits

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: December 7, 2018 | R

Starring: Alexandra Park, Candace Smith, Courtney B. Vance, David Zaldivar, Faith Logan, Gamze Ceylan, Jakari Fraser, Jessica VanOss, Jocelyn Bioh, Julia Roberts, Kathryn Newton, Lucas Hedges, Marquise Vilson, Melissa van der Schyff, Mia Fowler, Michael Esper, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Rachel Bay Jones, Teddy Cañez, Tim Guinee

Summary: 19 year-old Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges) unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben’s mother, Holly (Julia Roberts), is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything19 year-old Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges) unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben’s mother, Holly (Julia Roberts), is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe. … Expand

Director: Peter Hedges

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 103 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Mick LaSalle

Dec 12, 2018

What makes Ben Is Back different is that, even if this kind of pain is completely outside your own experience, you’ll feel some of it watching this movie. Read full review

Johanna Schneller

Dec 14, 2018

It’s an interesting twist on the usual addiction drama – it’s not the downfall, it’s will he stay clean? – and it works. If you’re not invested, you’re not watching. Read full review

Steve Pond

Nov 19, 2018

In this time for movies about teens in trouble, it’s the mom in this one who packs the biggest punch. Read full review

David Edelstein

Dec 10, 2018

It’s a good idea done well until the last 20 minutes, when the leap from a realistic addiction drama to a hair’s-breadth Hollywood rescue movie is too jarring to ignore. Read full review

Danielle White

Dec 19, 2018

An impactful film, one that’s made for the season of giving, if giving means never giving up. Read full review

K. Austin Collins

Dec 16, 2018

The film doesn’t glamorize addiction, or make it irrationally melodramatic, or gussy itself up in bespoke tragedy. (The same cannot be said of Beautiful Boy.) It’s all just right—even if “just right” is just O.K. Read full review

The Guardian Benjamin Lee

Sep 12, 2018

There are good intentions and good performances here, but they’re squandered in a movie that isn’t quite sure what it should be and how far it should go. Read full review

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User Reviews

DenSantana

Dec 27, 2020

Very good performances by Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges. very engaging plot, with an ending that escapes the obvious.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GreatMartin

Dec 21, 2018

Inline image

“Ben Is Back” hands down is the most emotional movie of the year. It opens with Holly (Julia Roberts) coming home from church with three of her four children who have been practicing for the Christmas pageant. Upon the arrival she is first shocked and then overjoyed to see herInline image

“Ben Is Back” hands down is the most emotional movie of the year. It opens with Holly (Julia Roberts) coming home from church with three of her four children who have been practicing for the Christmas pageant. Upon the arrival she is first shocked and then overjoyed to see her son Ben (Lucas Hedges) standing in the driveway. He had been staying in rehab, not allowed to leave, recovering from his drug habit once again but tells her that his sponsor and the head of the sober-living facility had Okayed the trip.

Ben’s younger half-sister, Lacey (Mia Fowler) and half-brother Liam (Jakari Fraser), adore him as does the family dog. Ben’s sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is angry with him from previous experiences while his stepfather Neal (Courtney B. Vance) wonders aloud, “How many chances are we, the family, suppose to give Ben?” He also questions what Ben’s fate would have been if he was a black boy.

Without giving any spoilers the gist of the movie is that Ben must spend every minute of the 24 hours he will be home under the eye of his mother, including when he has to take a urinating drug test which brings some humor into a dark film concentrating on a mother’s love for a child that is the strongest love of all.

Aside from strong performances of Fowler, Fraser, Newton and Vance, there is a cameo by Rachel Bay Jones as a mother who lost her daughter to drugs and David Zaldivar and Michael Esper as part of Ben’s past.

Peter Hedges wrote and directed this film and does a fine job in both departments not overdoing either the family, rehab or drug scenes. The musical soundtrack is unobtrusive which is quite rare in films these days.

What makes this film special are the two commanding performances of the leads.

In 2016 Lucas Hedges, yes he is the son of Peter Hedges, was nominated for a best-supporting actor in his role in “Manchester by the Sea” and last month he played the gay son in “Boy Erased” who was sent to a conversion camp. In this film he lets you see what and how drugs affect a boy’s life mentally and physically and the pain he has caused his family is there on his face.

In 2000 when Julia Roberts was accepting her Oscar for Best Actress in “Erin Brockovich” the orchestra started to play her off but she stopped them saying that this may be her only chance and I hope this film proves her wrong. Roberts has a lot of stiff competition in the Best Actress category this year---sorry Glenn Close, I was rooting for you up to this point—but she gives a performance of a woman who did/does the best by her children and will fight for them no matter the cost if she feels they are right, that will touch you and move you to tears.

“Ben Is Back” is not really a “Christmas movie” but it is a heartfelt movie that will affect the parent in you whether you have children or not.

The movie and the performances by Roberts and Hedges make it a definite ‘Must See’.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Vanessa_

May 25, 2019

Accurate portrayals. Well acted and shot. Storytelling was consistent. Hit very close to home.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

alejandro970

Apr 4, 2019

Energetic Julia Roberts in family drama about how far goes the love of a mother and how much truth has to her son. The final conflict is unexpected, tragic, but encouraging. Enough for mid-week evening.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Mar 4, 2019

Peter Hedges delivers the best film of his career, achieving a very consistent, stable and enjoyable drama.
Not necessarily a very striking film but to tell the truth it deserves more attention.
His son Lucas shows that he's here to stay. The boy is doing things very well and although hisPeter Hedges delivers the best film of his career, achieving a very consistent, stable and enjoyable drama.
Not necessarily a very striking film but to tell the truth it deserves more attention.

His son Lucas shows that he's here to stay. The boy is doing things very well and although his role is quite interesting and is one of the strongest points of this story, who is more rewarding is Julia Roberts, who delivers her best performance since August: Osage County and she reminds you that she can still act quite well and honestly it's good to see her like that again.

I was told that her work in the Amazon Video series: Homecoming is also impressive, so it goes without saying that she seems to be in a good moment and for the most part I enjoyed her a lot in this film
I was told that her work in the Amazon Video series: Homecoming is also impressive, so it goes without saying that she seems to be in a good moment and for the most part, I enjoyed her a lot in this film… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Dan_B

Feb 9, 2021

(Español / ENglish)

Abstract Español Regresa a mí es, si se quiere, una película pequeña sobre el reencuentro inesperado con su familia del joven Ben (Lucas Hedges), un adicto en recuperación, pero que cumple con lo que se propone abarcar y narrar, sorprende con su desarrollo y ofrece una(Español / ENglish)

Abstract Español
Regresa a mí es, si se quiere, una película pequeña sobre el reencuentro inesperado con su familia del joven Ben (Lucas Hedges), un adicto en recuperación, pero que cumple con lo que se propone abarcar y narrar, sorprende con su desarrollo y ofrece una gran actuación de Julia Roberts como su madre.

Reseña Español
En la víspera de Navidad, Ben, un joven adicto internado para su recuperación (Lucas Hedges), regresa inesperadamente a su casa para pasarla con su madre Holly (Julia Roberts), su hermana y el resto de su familia. Este breve reencuentro tendrá derivaciones inesperadas.
En un principio la película de Peter Hedges plantea con contundencia las incomodidades y contradicciones hogareñas de ese reencuentro inesperado, aunque hace pensar en un desarrollo ya visto en otras ficciones dentro de los moldes del melodrama. Sin embargo, luego de un suceso que conviene no revelar, se van develando otros aspectos acerca de Ben y con ellos, otras aristas de la problemática que aborda la película, que se desliza hacia otros géneros.
Lucas Hedges nos regala nuevamente otro de sus personajes reconcentrados, que se va enriqueciendo a medida que la narración va incorporando su punto de vista. Julia Roberts interpreta maravillosamente a una suerte de mater dolorosa, transmitiendo esa incómoda mezcla de sentimientos donde el amor se combina con la vigilancia y también el arrojo.
Regresa a mí es, si se quiere, una película pequeña pero que cumple con lo que se propone abarcar y narrar y que sorprende con su desarrollo.

English Abstract Ben is back is, if you will, a small film about the unexpected reunion with his family of young Ben (Lucas Hedges), a recovering addict, but who fulfills what he sets out to cover and narrate, surprises with his development and offers a great performance from Julia Roberts as his mother.

English Review

On Christmas Eve, Ben, a young addict interned for his recovery (Lucas Hedges), unexpectedly returns to his house to spend with his mother Holly (Julia Roberts), his sister and the rest of his family. This brief reunion will have unexpected consequences.

At first, Peter Hedges's film forcefully raises the discomforts and home contradictions of this unexpected reunion, although it suggests a development already seen in other fictions within the molds of melodrama. However, after an event that should not be disclosed, other aspects about Ben are revealed and with them, other edges of the problem that the film addresses, which slides into other genres.

Lucas Hedges once again gives us another of his concentrated characters, which he enriches as the narrative incorporates his point of view. Julia Roberts wonderfully plays a kind of mater dolorosa, transmitting that uncomfortable mixture of feelings where love is combined with vigilance and also courage.

Ben is back is, if you will, a small film but that fulfills what it intends to cover and narrate and that surprises with its development.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amheretojudge

Feb 21, 2019

Back For One More Entry.

Ben Is Back Hedges is not sure about what he wants to say. And it's that uncertainty in his vocab that aches us throughout this day. He has not clearly adapted the version of or the genre of the film he wants to put in front of us. Maybe he is mixing up things aBack For One More Entry.

Ben Is Back

Hedges is not sure about what he wants to say. And it's that uncertainty in his vocab that aches us throughout this day. He has not clearly adapted the version of or the genre of the film he wants to put in front of us. Maybe he is mixing up things a bit or trying to surprise his viewers, anyhoo, the result is a confused dish with plethora of ingredients and no taste to savour it. The script written by the director Peter Hedges himself, is a complete one. There is no extra branch hanging around in it for a distraction or dramatic effects.

It is written with a sense of constructing a crime thriller investigation where at the actual stakes is drama. And this is what it's entire second half is brimmed of, the investigation process carried off by a team of two partners that are trying to overcome their issues and limitations along with solving a burglary. I can imagine the bells ringing enthusiastically in maker's head as this idea illuminated in front of him. And as much as fascinating this topic of discussion is, the weaving and execution of the script is equally banal.

Which now leaves the film on the hand of our two partners in crime, Holly Burns (Julia Roberts) as the mother of a drug addict Ben Burnes played beautifully by Lucas Hedges, and they stay true to their promises till the last act. In fact, I would presume to be script written in a way to be relied upon the performances, pinning down powerful sequences one by one into script that acts like an antic to step upon, the portrayal of this mother-son equation paints this exploration dark theme by bright appealing colors.

Hedges is growing out to be one of the top contenders of current generation actors, from supporting to leading the film all on his merits he has managed to show his skills at its best. His first confessional monologue in a meeting is a fine example of it as he whips you with a big wallop of tear jerking emotions. Roberts on the other hand is an equal threat, she has more of a parallel role than a supporting one and she trying to be rigid and one dimensional when it comes to cure her son, is the ultimate armor of hers that helps her survive this battle.

Other supporting cast merely plays out to be like a pawn, where they can easily be described as those pieces of puzzles that we usually encounter on a crime drama that helps the protagonist to end the investigation sooner. A lot of films this year has chosen this theme to send out a message, each being different and intriguing on their own terms, this one stands alone for the race-against-time nature of it. Ben Is Back is almost titled as if some B grade action film is, there is a levity to it but then it also explains too much and too little of what the film is about.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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