Honey Boy

Amazon Studios | Release Date: November 8, 2019

7.4	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 69 Ratings

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Stream2BigScreeJan 28, 2020

Honey Boy’s Got Some Daddy Issues

The Stream: Too self-referential for its own good. The Big Screen: Great chemistry between the two lead actors. The Final Bill: Almost like reading someone’s diary that you don’t really care about –Honey Boy’s Got Some Daddy Issues

The Stream: Too self-referential for its own good.

The Big Screen: Great chemistry between the two lead actors.

The Final Bill: Almost like reading someone’s diary that you don’t really care about – intriguing but unsatisfying.

-Trip Fontaine

First, I was tempted to title this review “Honey Boy Don’t Care,” but Honey Boy do care.

Yes, friends, we saw “the Shia LaBeouf movie”, Honey Boy, this weekend. It has been marketed as “the Shia LaBeouf movie”, and it plays like that in more than one way. Honey Boy is a fictionalized account of the life of the former child star struggling in rehab and his memory of working as a 12-year-old and being chaperoned by his unreliable, abusive, felon and recovering addict father. The film was written by LaBeouf through his most recent rehab stay; and it is directed by Alma Har’el. Necessarily, there is a metafictional aspect to the plot, and it becomes too self-referential for its own good.

Honey Boy sets the main character, played by Lucas Hedges, off on his destructive road to the rehab that will force him to deal with the effects of his time with his father. Hedges plays the 22-year-old LaBeouf surrogate named Otis that leads us to the meat of the movie. Noah Jupe plays the 12-year-old Otis, and LaBeouf, himself, plays the fictionalized version of his own father named James. Setting aside all of the self-referential, self-consciously, metafictional stuff, Jupe and LaBeouf are fantastic together. Jupe is heartbreaking in the role, at once loving and fearing his father. The relationship between father and son is fraught and heavy – each scene between the two is electric. LaBeouf is mesmerizing both because his portrayal is great, but also, because you know he’s channeling the character from real life experience. He expresses the damage, rage and empathy he must have been able to find in his father.

Now, what makes LaBeouf’s performance so good is also what makes some of the movie feel empty. The Lucas Hedges parts are supposed to be the raw portrayal of the consequences of the Jupe/LaBeouf parts of the film, but they fall flat. You always want more of Jupe and LaBeouf as their characters playing off each other. Hedges’ portray is one note and his rehab scenes aren’t particularly interesting.

There are some great sequences aside from that. The direction of Alma Har’el shows that she cares about all these characters. FKA Twigs has a special part that leads to a cool scene between her and Jupe. They’re just filled with innocence and fun. It very tender.

Honey Boy plays best when it’s just grappling with the tension between the demons of the father and the needs of the son. It is difficult to put aside the specter of Shia LaBeouf when he’s front-and-center for much of the movie, but that somehow seems to mostly affect the parts concerning the 22-year-old. If you don’t care about his journey in rehab, then those parts of the movie just don’t work. While I think that Honey Boy is a good movie particularly because of Shia LaBeouf and Noah Jupe, a trip to the theater isn’t warranted.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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TVJerryDec 2, 2019

In an act of supreme self indulgence, Shia LaBeouf wrote this screenplay about his relationship with his father and also plays him. Meanwhile, 2 different actors assume the role of the young actor: Noah Jupe (in an impressive film debut) isIn an act of supreme self indulgence, Shia LaBeouf wrote this screenplay about his relationship with his father and also plays him. Meanwhile, 2 different actors assume the role of the young actor: Noah Jupe (in an impressive film debut) is the boy living with his father in a cheap motel while shooting a movie. Lucas Hedges (playing tortured once again) is the adult version, facing his demons in yet another rehab. In an over-the-top performance as the father, LaBeouf rants and abuses his son for much of the movie. It's painful for them and for the audience. There are some touching moments, esp. with Jupe, but this is just one long tedious psycho drama for LaBeouf.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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netflicNov 11, 2019

This movie is a self-serving experiment when an actor and a script writer Shia Labeouf is court-marshaled into a rehab and writes a script about his own childhood and his abusive father. In his script Shia has a name of Otis who is played byThis movie is a self-serving experiment when an actor and a script writer Shia Labeouf is court-marshaled into a rehab and writes a script about his own childhood and his abusive father. In his script Shia has a name of Otis who is played by Oscar-nominated Lucas Hedges when Otis is in his twenties and a rising star Noah Jupe who plays 12-year old Otis. The interesting part is that Shia plays his own father, ex-con, ex-rodeo clown, ex-sex offender and many other exes. I assume it must be therapeutic for him.

I enjoyed Noah's performance but that was the only part of the movie that I really liked. The script was way too twisted from fragments of the rehab's present, flashes from childhood years and recent past. I have a feeling that Shia inherited self-pity from his father.
I am glad that he managed to make it after all these years with a jerk of a father. Overall the movie did not make a great impression on me.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

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JumpCut_OnlineDec 4, 2019

Honey Boy is guided by LaBeouf’s cathartic script and humanized by Jupe’s magnificent, touching performance and the way he brings nuance and heart to this role of a 12-year-old asking for the unspoken affection of his father. LaBeouf’s visionHoney Boy is guided by LaBeouf’s cathartic script and humanized by Jupe’s magnificent, touching performance and the way he brings nuance and heart to this role of a 12-year-old asking for the unspoken affection of his father. LaBeouf’s vision of his pain and healing is indispensable, quietly crafted through the moments when both Otis and his father are at odds. It’s this heartbreaking dynamic which renders it raw. Again, delicate to revisit, but its mere existence feels like a necessary gift to film.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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moviemitch96Nov 30, 2019

This was an autobiographical film written by and starring Shia LaBeouf about his upbringing as an up-and-coming child star in Hollywood under the supervision of his abusive alcoholic father, and how he copes with it in rehab during his teenThis was an autobiographical film written by and starring Shia LaBeouf about his upbringing as an up-and-coming child star in Hollywood under the supervision of his abusive alcoholic father, and how he copes with it in rehab during his teen and young adult years. LaBeouf plays his father in this film, while Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges portray a loose version of Shia as a child and teen/young adult respectively. Intrigued by its high ratings clear back from when it premiered at Sundance in January, I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, this film mostly proved a waste of time, at least for me it did. To me, all it seemed to be was a statement/excuse on Shia's behalf as to why he's always getting drunk, arrested, and behaving so poorly in Hollywood nowadays. While I can certainly see that the guy clearly has demons, it didn't necessarily make me feel any more sympathy for him, if that's what he was aiming for. On top of that, watching the young child actor playing the 12-yr-old version of him swear constantly, smoke cigarettes, and hang around trashy women isn't really my idea of a good film. By the end of it all, I was pretty convinced that this not only served to try and appear as a sympathy piece for LaBeouf, but also as a pat on the back for himself, which I definitely think is completely undeserved. Overall, I won't deny that there were some standout performances (Noah Jupe, despite all of the uncomfortable adult things he's portrayed doing in this film, really pulls no punches with his at times highly emotional performance, and Lucas Hedges does a great job as usual too!) Otherwise there's nothing really worthwhile here if you ask me.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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Mauro_LanariMay 31, 2020

(Mauro Lanari)
"Honey Boy" literally. Like Robert Downey Jr.'s biopic "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" (Dito Montiel, 2006) or that of Joaquin Phoenix's (fake) "I'm Still Here" (Casey Affleck, 2010), plus the artistic environment of "The(Mauro Lanari)
"Honey Boy" literally. Like Robert Downey Jr.'s biopic "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" (Dito Montiel, 2006) or that of Joaquin Phoenix's (fake) "I'm Still Here" (Casey Affleck, 2010), plus the artistic environment of "The Fang Family" (Jason Bateman, 2015): a dysfunctional childhood that, lost the cathartic effect to overdose, verges on rhetoric and self-indulgence with a narcissistically vanity suspended between exhibitionism and voyeurism.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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