Ben Is Back

In the many treatments of troubled young men this year (Boy Erased, Beautiful Boy, Burning, to name ones I'm aware of), Ben is Back is the most affecting. Ben (Lucas Hedges) has bolted from his rehab clinic to spend time with his loving family. Although the film devolves into a quasi-thriller, the first half or so depicts with alarming clarity what it means to have a heroin addict in the house, even for a day. It's hell.

His Mom, Holly (Julia Roberts), is the one most acutely aware about hiding anything that her son might use to get off the wagon. Holly is one of the strong women characters for this year, reminding that Roberts has the chops to pull of a heavily dramatic role, as she did in Erin Brockovich and August: Osage County. Hedges, like Roberts, gives a performance of his much shorter lifetime.

The household stress is shifted when Ben's pet dog is stolen for ransom to lure him back into the dealer game. Director Peter Hedges (father of Lucas) has mom and son searching for the dog but also for a connection that can erase Ben's addiction. Finding the dog is the action to make the film come alive and to show the audience the scary world of drug dealers.

By moving the action to the search outside the home, Hedges has lost the demanding drama of family adjustment including the teen sister, Ivy (Kathryn Newton), the two younger siblings, and the tough-love Dad, Neal (Courtney B. Vance). The world of dealers we have seen before, but such a slice of upper-middle class turmoil has been too infrequently portrayed. Even Beautiful Boy didn't involve the audience as much as Ben is Back does.

By adding the dealer turn of the screw, Hedges has revealed the convoluted and pain-giving world of addiction, now planted firmly in homelife, where even the streets must compete for tragedy and despair. Although Ben is Back has formulaic elements and an unfortunate clustering with other young-men lost films this year, it stands alone in revealing the horror addiction unleashes at home

Peter Hedges's "Ben Is Back" is what one might call a Christmas-adjacent movie: it takes place around Christmas but the plot doesn't relate to Christmas. In this case, a woman in a stable family goes home and finds that her son is there after having been in drug treatment. This opens the door to a series of unpleasant events.

Julia Roberts spent much of the 1990s in romantic comedies. This movie is nothing like those. It's got to be one of the grittiest movies of 2018. There were scenes that made me feel as if I was on pins and needles. It's far from the year's greatest movie, but the roughness alone makes it worth seeing.

In the end, the movie's message seems to be that parents must love their children, no matter how low the latter sink. At the very least, they should make an effort to do so. I hope that Hedges keeps turning out movies like this one.

So, Lucas Hedges is having quite a year. A bully in Mid 90s, a gay teen who must endure conversion therapy in Boy Erased. And now in Ben is Back he is a recovering addict whose opioid addiction has caused major problems between him and his family. Directed by Peter Hedges, who also happens to be Lucas' father, this is a simple but effective film that deals with a crisis that many parents have to face. This one quietly arrived in theaters but its one to watch.

The film is about Ben, who recently returns home having been sober for 77 days. His mom wants to give him the benefit of the doubt although she is weary about whether he is using or not. Ben soon realizes that his old ways catch up to him and it causes a danger to his family. Ben tries to wrong the rights and fight off the temptation of the past, and his mom (played by Julia Roberts) strives to remain at his side to make sure that she doesn't lose her son.

I like the recent waves of films that are covering drug addiction. Working in that counseling field I see it daily and see what a problem it is. You can never be clear of your demons and relapse is a normality. I think Lucas Hedges has one of his strongest performances yet, not that that's a surprise because he's good in everything. Best Julia Roberts performance in a while as well, at least for me. Its a simple plot and takes place over the course of a day or so but its a deep story that engulfs you from the opening scene.

I don't know if this is going to get award season love but I'd like for it to get nominated for its original screenplay and some acting plaudits. Its easily identifiable, and the characters are strong and driven, a testament to the actors who commit to the performances. Wouldn't have minded this thing being 10-20 minutes longer because not a minute is wasted here.

7.5/10

Ben Is Back follows a story of a young addict returning home for holidays by putting the lives of his family members and those who he had affected as an addict dramatically changes within 24 hours. A triumphal performance of Julia Roberts as the mother, who is fighting for salvation of her child, is probably one of the best of her career. Lucas Hedges, who plays Ben, also son of the director Peter Hedges, is on a phenomenal rise, appearing in not one but two Oscar-worthy performances this year, proving that Hollywood can still hold on the line with decent young actors such as Hedges as old talents slowly fade out. A passionate project that is ambitious, raw and tender, centered on the redemption addicts can get from their family.

This movie chronicles 24 hours in the life of a family after the oldest son comes home from rehab one Christmas eve.

The first part of the movie is good in it's illustration of the chaos and disruption drug addiction has on a family when one of their own is addicted.

The story starts out strong but delves in to unbelievable scenarios such as when the addict son goes after the drug dealer after a break in and theft of the family pet.

Good acting by both Julie Roberts and Lucas Hedges.