Beautiful Boy (2018)
Movie · 2018 · Drama · 2h 1m · R · English
Curator score: 7.8/10 (1.6M ratings)
Tagline: A true story of addiction, survival and family.
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Ratings:
- Curator score: 7.8/10
- IMDb: 7.4/10
- Letterboxd: 4.05/5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
- Metacritic: 62
- TMDB: 7.5/10
Director: Felix van Groeningen
Production: Plan B Entertainment
Cast: Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan, Christian Convery, Oakley Bull, Kaitlyn Dever, Stefanie Scott, Julian Works, Jack Dylan Grazer, Zachary Rifkin, Kue Lawrence, Timothy Hutton, Amy Forsyth, Andre Royo, Ricky Low, LisaGay Hamilton, Carlton Wilborn, Amy Aquino, Marypat Farrell
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict: A painful, actor-driven addiction drama that leans on empathy rather than sensationalism. It’s strongest as a parent-child crisis story, with committed performances and a sober, grief-stricken tone that makes the relapse cycle feel exhausting and real.
Best for: viewers who want a compassionate family drama about addiction; fans of intimate, performance-led emotional dramas; audiences interested in parent-child relationships under extreme strain; people who prefer grounded, non-exploitative recovery stories
Skip if: you want a fast-moving plot or thriller-like momentum; you dislike emotionally heavy, repetitive relapse narratives; you prefer addiction stories with a more stylized or confrontational edge; you’re looking for a hopeful, uplifting recovery arc
Overview: Beautiful Boy is less interested in the mechanics of addiction than in the emotional weather it creates around a family. The film keeps returning to the same awful pattern: hope, relapse, panic, bargaining, and heartbreak. That repetition can feel draining, but it is also the point, and the movie’s restraint gives the material a bruised sincerity.
Worth noting: Steve Carell plays the father with a quiet, collapsing desperation, while Timothée Chalamet brings a fragile volatility that makes the son feel both present and unreachable. Their scenes together carry the film, even when the script feels a little too polished or conventional for the subject. The result is moving, if sometimes frustratingly familiar.
Bottom line: What lingers most is the sense of helpless love: a parent trying every possible version of rescue and still losing ground. It’s a difficult watch, but a worthwhile one for viewers who respond to emotional realism and strong performances over narrative surprise.
Top Letterboxd reviews:
- stephanie: when you find out jasper's life savings were $8...i felt that
- andrea🌹: one of the scenes in the book that impacted me the most was the one where karen sees nic drive off and she chases him with her car, and i’m so happy it made it into the film (even though it’s done differently but hey we’re not nitpicky). but they ommitted the line which made the whole thing stick to my mind, so i’ll just share it here:
“Later, when we're alone, she [Karen] confides to me [David], "I wanted to tell him to get help, but mostly I was chasing him—chasing him away from our house—from Jasper and Daisy.””
- kayla: When Steve Carell cries we all cry
- siobhan: do you think that smoking drugs is cool? do you think that doing alcohol is cool?
- cinéfila... 🕯️: the boy was beautiful
Recommended similar titles:
- Short Term 12 (2013 · Drama · 1h 36m · R · Curator 9.1/10 (243.2K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Fandor, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads)
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- The Son (2022 · Drama · 2h 3m · PG-13 · Curator 0.1/10 (568 ratings) · Where to watch: Hulu, fuboTV)
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Topics: addiction drama, family trauma, parent-child relationship, relapse, grief, emotional intensity, prestige drama, 2010s, performance-driven
https://watchlist.tannermartz.com/apple/movie/beautiful-boy/451915
Beautiful Boy (2018)
Movie · 2018 · Drama · 2h 1m · R · English
Curator score: 7.8/10 (1.6M ratings)
A true story of addiction, survival and family.
Overview After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.8/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 4.05/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
Metacritic: 62
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director Felix van Groeningen
Production Plan B Entertainment
Cast Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan, Christian Convery, Oakley Bull, Kaitlyn Dever, Stefanie Scott, Julian Works, Jack Dylan Grazer, Zachary Rifkin, Kue Lawrence, Timothy Hutton, Amy Forsyth, Andre Royo, Ricky Low, LisaGay Hamilton, Carlton Wilborn, Amy Aquino, Marypat Farrell
Where to watch Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A painful, actor-driven addiction drama that leans on empathy rather than sensationalism. It’s strongest as a parent-child crisis story, with committed performances and a sober, grief-stricken tone that makes the relapse cycle feel exhausting and real.
Best for
viewers who want a compassionate family drama about addiction
fans of intimate, performance-led emotional dramas
audiences interested in parent-child relationships under extreme strain
people who prefer grounded, non-exploitative recovery stories
Skip if
you want a fast-moving plot or thriller-like momentum
you dislike emotionally heavy, repetitive relapse narratives
you prefer addiction stories with a more stylized or confrontational edge
you’re looking for a hopeful, uplifting recovery arc
Overview
Beautiful Boy is less interested in the mechanics of addiction than in the emotional weather it creates around a family. The film keeps returning to the same awful pattern: hope, relapse, panic, bargaining, and heartbreak. That repetition can feel draining, but it is also the point, and the movie’s restraint gives the material a bruised sincerity.
Worth noting
Steve Carell plays the father with a quiet, collapsing desperation, while Timothée Chalamet brings a fragile volatility that makes the son feel both present and unreachable. Their scenes together carry the film, even when the script feels a little too polished or conventional for the subject. The result is moving, if sometimes frustratingly familiar.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the sense of helpless love: a parent trying every possible version of rescue and still losing ground. It’s a difficult watch, but a worthwhile one for viewers who respond to emotional realism and strong performances over narrative surprise.
Top Letterboxd reviews
stephanie (3.5★) · 23587 likes
when you find out jasper's life savings were $8...i felt that
andrea🌹 (3.5★) · 16997 likes
one of the scenes in the book that impacted me the most was the one where karen sees nic drive off and she chases him with her car, and i’m so happy it made it into the film (even though it’s done differently but hey we’re not nitpicky). but they ommitted the line which made the whole thing stick to my mind, so i’ll just share it here:
“Later, when we're alone, she [Karen] confides to me [David], "I wanted to tell him to get help, but mostly I was chasing him—chasing him away from our house—from Jasper and Daisy.””
kayla (3.5★) · 11847 likes
When Steve Carell cries we all cry
siobhan (4★) · 9711 likes
do you think that smoking drugs is cool? do you think that doing alcohol is cool?
cinéfila... 🕯️ (3.5★) · 9318 likes
the boy was beautiful
Recommended similar titles
2013 · Drama · 1h 36m · R · Curator 9.1/10 (243.2K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Fandor, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Intimate, compassionate, and emotionally precise, with a strong focus on damaged young people and the adults trying to help them.
2022 · Drama · 2h 3m · PG-13 · Curator 0.1/10 (568 ratings) · Where to watch: Hulu, fuboTV
Another painful family drama about a parent trying to understand and help a struggling child, with a similarly bruised emotional register.
2006 · Drama · 1h 57m · PG-13 · Curator 7.3/10 (1.6M ratings)
Shares the same parental perseverance and emotional uplift-through-suffering structure, though in a more inspirational mode.
2016 · Drama · 2h 18m · R · Curator 9.3/10 (1.4M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A grief-soaked drama about emotional damage, restraint, and the limits of what love can repair.
2015 · Drama, Thriller · 1h 58m · R · Curator 8.4/10 (1.3M ratings) · Where to watch: Max
A devastating parent-child survival story that balances trauma with fierce emotional attachment.
2014 · Drama · 2h 45m · R · Curator 8.4/10 (991.5K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Hulu, AMC+, Philo, Sundance Now, MUBI
For viewers drawn to the passage of time, family strain, and the quiet accumulation of life-changing moments.
2020 · Drama · 1h 37m · PG-13 · Curator 9.6/10 (649.3K ratings)
A similarly intimate portrait of helplessness, confusion, and the emotional toll on loved ones.
2018 · Music, Drama, Romance · 2h 16m · R · Curator 6.9/10 (1.6M ratings)
A mainstream emotional drama about love, addiction, and the devastation that comes from trying to save someone you can’t reach.
2006 · Drama · 1h 47m · R · Curator 6.7/10 (180.5K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, AMC+, Philo
A quiet, character-led drama about addiction and care, with a similarly intimate and unsentimental feel.
2013 · Drama, Crime · 2h 20m · R · Curator 6.6/10 (709.5K ratings)
A family saga about inheritance, damage, and the long shadow of parental choices.
1980 · Drama · 2h 4m · R · Curator 8.7/10 (123K ratings) · Where to watch: MGM Plus
A classic family drama about grief, guilt, and the emotional distance that can grow inside a household after trauma.
2000 · Drama, Romance · 1h 37m · R · Curator 8.4/10 (3.6K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV
For its melancholy atmosphere, adolescent fragility, and the sense of adults trying to understand what they cannot reach.
Topics
addiction drama, family trauma, parent-child relationship, relapse, grief, emotional intensity, prestige drama, 2010s, performance-driven
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