Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy follows journalist David Sheff as he tries to help his son Nic, whose drug use moves from teenage experimentation into a severe methamphetamine addiction. The story is told largely from the father's perspective, tracing the family's efforts to cope as Nic's behaviour damages the trust between them and affects those around him, including his mother and David's second wife. David searches for explanations in his son's earlier years, recalling a thoughtful and promising boy, and questions what part he may have played.

The film was directed by Felix van Groeningen, who wrote the screenplay with Luke Davies. It was his fourth feature and his English-language debut, arriving between Belgica and The Eight Mountains. Steve Carell plays David, with Timothée Chalamet as Nic, and Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan, Christian Convery and Oakley Bull in supporting roles. Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner produced through Plan B Entertainment, with Amazon Studios and Big Indie Pictures. Made for about 25 million dollars, it took roughly 32 million worldwide, a modest return for a drama of its scale.

It drew an IMDb rating of 7.4 from around 127,000 votes and a TMDB rating of 7.6 from nearly 3,000 votes, while the critics' rating of 6.4 from 265 reviews sits noticeably below those audience scores. The runtime is 121 minutes.