Beautiful Boy: Blu Ray Review

Released by Madman
Rating: M

A colleague of mine has a theory that films come in pairs when released - ie there's usually another of a similar ilk around the corner.

So it is with Beautiful Boy which has a lot of common themes with the upcoming We Need To Talk About Kevin.

Beautiful Boy stars the ever versatile Michael Sheen and the ever watchable Maria Bello as a couple Bill and Kate, whose relationship is under strain and falling apart. But it gets an even bigger shock when their son executes a high school massacre on the eve of them deciding on a family vacation.

Struggling for answers, they try to pick up the pieces and carry on while forever questioning why their son committed such an atrocity - and what they could have done to prevent it.

Beautiful Boy is a powerful film with two compelling lead performances. It's horrifying stuff in places as you realise what Kate and Bill will have to live with for the rest of their lives; a film like this could be milked for the drama but thanks to extraordinary performances from the leads, handheld camera direction which gives it a sense of reality and never feels staged, it really gets under your skin.

Sheen and Bello are incredibly good as they run the gamut of old emotions and new stages of grief and anger - it's a very real performance from the pair of them - but also some credit needs to go to the stoic supporting cast of Moon Bloodgood, Alan Tudyk and Meatloaf. A great ensemble and a well done drama make this a surprisingly watchable piece which will haunt you long after it's done.

Extras: Commentary and a couple of deleted scenes.

Rating: