Beautiful Boy
Feature Film | Shawn Ku
An unfocused drama somewhat redeemed by Sheen and Bello's emotional lead performances.
In his theatrical debut, Beautiful Boy, filmmaker Shawn Ku seems to have difficulty settling on a direction for a film that desperately needs it. Bill (Michael Sheen) and Kate Carroll (Maria Bello) are a couple on the verge of separation when they learn that their college freshman son, Sam (Kyle Gallner), has shot several fellow students before turning the gun on himself. The two leads each give excellent performances; Bill's internalizing of his grief and guilt takes a slow, decaying toll, while Kate vacillates between manic sobbing and denial. Fortunately, not many people know what it must feel like to lose a child in this way, but it can't be far off from the utter devastation that Sheen and Bello evoke with their roles. Taking refuge from the media onslaught at the house of Kate's brother Eric (Alan Tudyk) and his wife, Trish (Moon Bloodgood), Bill and Kate attempt to put the pieces of their life back together. Despite the emotionally fraught lead turns, Beautiful Boy stalls, and the film seems to lose its way. Ku can't decide whether to focus on the grieving process or the broken relationship, and ultimately neither is sufficiently addressed.
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