Ben Is Back *** (2018, Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges, Courtney B Vance, Kathryn Newton) – Movie Review

Lucas Hedges stars in Ben Is Back (2018) as the nice, charming yet troubled Ben Burns, an apparently cleaned-up, recovering drug addicted teenage boy who shows up unexpectedly at his family’s home on Christmas Eve.

Or rather Hedges co-stars in Ben Is Back, and Julia Roberts stars as the boy’s spiky, eagle-eyed but loving mother Holly. She is thrilled at the kid’s return, and agrees that he can stay over for 24 hours under certain restrictive conditions. But her second husband Neal (Courtney B Vance) and Ben’s sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) are less than thrilled, sensing trouble ahead.

And that’s what there is, of course, otherwise there would be no film. The trouble comes slowly though, and unexpectedly, adding some considering conviction and interest to a rather odd movie, attentively written and directed by Lucas Hedges’s dad, Peter Hedges.

Holly is way too close to her son, almost creepily so, and she will do anything to protect or save him, but this gives Roberts a grand role, and she picks it up and runs with it. Being older suits Roberts well. She still looks good, but now she looks real, and acts real. Her acting has taken a leap ahead. When her character is angry, Roberts gets a real rage on. So, good. Hedges is good again, though he can’t keep playing troubled teenage boys for ever. He needs more strings to his bow if he is to survive as a star. But he is a good little actor, no doubt about it. There are really only these two roles in the entire film. No one else gets any kind of look in. But Roberts and Hedges Jr really do make their show a showy one. Both actors are really impressive.

I’m not sure I entirely believed in the story or the characters, but I did enjoy them and was engrossed in the movie, anxiously awaiting its outcome. Beautiful Boy is a rather better, more truthful movie about a doting parent and an addicted son, but it is far less entertaining or enjoyable than Ben Is Back.

Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy.

Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet are rivals in the young Hollywood of today, eagerly competing for the same roles. Ben Is Back offers Hedges Jr a much better role than Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy, not so much in quality but in a showy role for a young actor. Inevitably, though, it was Chalamet who attracted most attention, nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Film Award. Ben Is Back has been a bit short on awards and nominations. And it fared weakly at the box office, taking only $3,703,184 in the US. It deserves more attention, much more attention.

Ben Is Back runs 103 minutes and is made by Black Bear Pictures, 30West and Color Force.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts in Ben Is Back (2018).