Beautiful Boy (2018)

"Steve Carell is a father who watches his son (Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name) struggle with meth addiction in this drama based on the memoirs of David and Nic Sheff."

"Every last thing the movie shows us about addiction, and the effect it can have upon those who are trying to save an addict from himself, is entirely authentic."

"Parents will feel heard by this movie in a way that few other films have tried. Everyone else should go for the kid, who's a rocket taking off. You want to be able to say you were there when it happened."

"A grim endurance test that's undeniably flawed but in doggedly aiming to portray this unbearable pain with rare authenticity, it has a raw, haunting power."

"Beautiful Boy is an attractive and always-watchable film. But considering the ugliness of its subject matter, I'm not sure that's a recommendation."

"Strong, committed performances and the upsetting ring of reality anchor a highly-personal film which cycles through addiction, relapse and rehab in an episodic way, each high as inevitable as the low which follows."

"The detachment at work in "Beautiful Boy" suggests an attempt to speak clearly and truthfully, to resist the clichés of the addiction drama while acknowledging that those clichés can hardly be rewritten."

"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."

"An overly worthy and Oscar-bothering piece,"

"While the film lacks narrative momentum, its heart is in the right place, and that's to show the havoc addiction wreaks on families and how those families have no answer for addiction."