Beautiful Boy

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Beautiful Boy

R,

2011,

1h 40m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

71%

65 Reviews

Tomatometer

56%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

71%

Tomatometer

65 Reviews

56%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Stuck in an unhappy but comfortable marriage, businessman Bill (Michael Sheen) and his wife, Kate (Maria Bello), are shocked when they learn that their son, Sammy (Kyle Gallner), has gone on a deadly shooting spree on his college campus before committing suicide. Struggling to avoid the media, the couple flees to the house of Kate's brother, Eric (Alan Tudyk). While the two try to remember what they might have done to drive Sammy to his desperate act, their mutual resentment builds.

Critics Consensus

Saved by a pair of outstanding performances, Beautiful Boy is a testament to parental love and understating in the face of ultimate sorrow.

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Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Jun 17, 2011

2/4

In Beautiful Boy, the themes are vast but the picture is small, and the ensuing emptiness is what the characters are meant to feel -- not us.

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Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Jun 17, 2011

1.5/4

An excruciating drama about a couple caught in the aftermath of a pivotal moment involving their college-age son.

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Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Jun 16, 2011

2/4

At a certain point lofty objectivity is just a refusal to engage, and no raw camera work can disguise it.

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

Aug 19, 2022

3.5/5

Even with its flaws “Beautiful Boy” can be a powerful film that handles some tricky and weighty subject matter with care and compassion.

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Amelia Harvey

Frame Rated

Jul 24, 2019

2/5

There are moments that are touching, but Beautiful Boy fails to dig deep into emotional depths. It skates the surface and refuses to evolve further than showing us how Nic's a smart kid on a bad path, David's a good dad trying his best...

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Abbie Bernstein

Assignment X

Feb 14, 2019

B

Beautiful Boy is imperfect, but what works about it is very potent indeed.

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Draco M

Jan 22, 2019

Great acting. It shows you what is really going on in the mind of addicts. This is not a feel-good movie. It's a reality.

Jul 21, 2018

this is a VERY interesting take on the whole pandemic of students killing students we seem to be having lately. I thought it was an INCREDIBLE movie and would watch it again.

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Poe G

Aug 6, 2017

It's not fun, it's not entertaining and it's not tied with a bow but it is a slice of life so well written and acted that I believe almost every scene, emotion and expression, and that makes it brilliantly educational. No couple in this situation would allow someone to make a documentary and this is the next best thing to feeling this important and, sadly, not uncommon crisis.

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Ron W

Mar 14, 2012

Overwrought and maudlin

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Shawn Ku

Director

Michael Sheen

Bill Carroll

Maria Bello

Kate Carroll

Alan Tudyk

Eric

Moon Bloodgood

Trish

Kyle Gallner

Sam

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Synopsis

Stuck in an unhappy but comfortable marriage, businessman Bill (Michael Sheen) and his wife, Kate (Maria Bello), are shocked when they learn that their son, Sammy (Kyle Gallner), has gone on a deadly shooting spree on his college campus before committing suicide. Struggling to avoid the media, the couple flees to the house of Kate's brother, Eric (Alan Tudyk). While the two try to remember what they might have done to drive Sammy to his desperate act, their mutual resentment builds.

Director: Shawn Ku
Producer: Lee Clay, Eric Gozlan
Screenwriter: Shawn Ku, Michael Armbruster
Distributor: Anchor Bay
Production Co: Goldrush Entertainment
Rating: R (Language|A Scene of Sexuality)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 3, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 16, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $77.2K
Runtime: 1h 40m

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