Lucas Hedges (Lady Bird, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri) had much early Oscar buzz surrounding his name for his work in Boy Erased. I was as hyped as anyone for that movie and that performance. As I had mentioned in my review of it, Boy Erased was based on a book that I had read before I even knew that there was a movie to be made on it (which NEVER happens). I liked the book and appreciated it being adapted into a movie. It deals with a controversial issue that I have somewhat strong thoughts on, and I was curious to see how it played out on film. And with a cast of Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Joel Edgerton, and Russell Crowe, I thought it would be a Top 10 contender for sure. However, it completely underwhelmed, and Hedges’ performance in the film was not as great as I expected. I did not expect Hedges to dominate every screen he was in during two other 2018 performances after the release of that October. However, he was fantastic as the bully of an older brother in the handful of scenes he was in Mid90s (a film that had no other name actors besides him. And he let the screen on fire, matching Hollywood’s finest actress over the last 25 years in Julia Roberts (August Osage County, Erin Brokovich) in the under-the-radar, poignant Ben is Back.

Going head to head, scene after scene with the best in a profession, can be intimidating, but Hedges has handled it brilliantly in each role he has had. He could have been buried opposite Casey Affleck in 2016’s Manchester by the Sea,  but he was able to hold his own as the nephew of self-loathing uncle turned caregiver of Affleck. And I won’t necessarily say that he went toe to toe with that year’s Oscar winner, but he certainly did enough to rightfully earn his first Oscar nomination. But, honestly, that performance was nothing compared to his role of an addict who is loosely clinging to 77 days of sobriety in Peter Hedges’ (Dan in Real Life, Heights). It’s a film that feels like it’s picking you up and suspending you from midair as you watch the relationship between protective, cautious, and loving mother Holly (Roberts) and her kindhearted but untrustworthy son unfold over the course of about 24 hours during Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Ben has shown up out of the blue from his drug addiction recovery program, much to the unsuspected delight of Holly and to the chagrin of his slightly younger sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton – Blockers, Paranormal Activity 4). As mentioned, it is Christmas Eve, and Ben, under said approval of his sponsor, goes home to his upstate New York home for the holiday. He is wearing just jeans and a sweatshirt. He doesn’t even have a bag as he waits patiently on the front porch for his mother to arrive home from a church rehearsal where Ivy and Ben’s much younger brother (Liam) and sister (Lacey) from Holly’s second marriage will be performing in a play at a Christmas Eve service later that evening. There is much love in this family, but there is just as much mistrust. Ben is absolutely wonderful with Liam and Lacey, as well as the family dog. Holly is grateful to see the sparkle back in her son’s eyes and the weight he has put back on his body by being healthy. However, she is reminded by Ivy not to be blinded by the joy in her brother. She tells her mother how he isn’t ready to be out of his sober living program and reminds her (and us) how he ruined the previous two Christmas with his drug use and stealing. As happy as she is that her son is smiling, she quickly hides all of the prescription drugs in the house and some of the valuables that could easily be hocked at a pawn shop. When her husband Neal (Courtney B. Vance – NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent), who is the father of the young Liam and Lacey, arrives home, he quickly sides with Ivy and convinces Holly that he needs to be back in sober living (to which Ben is agreeable) only at the last minute to change his mind and to let the boy stay for 24 hours provided he passes a home-administered drug test and that he is not to leave Holly’s side for one minute of the duration of his stay. Pretty strict rules for sure but ones that we, as the audience, readily understand. To be blunt…Ben has screwed up many times in the past, that his family can no longer trust him. Everybody understands this; no one more so than Ben. He believes he has a stronghold on his recovery at the moment and is ready to show his family that he’s ready to make amends for his past errors.

This movie is a tale of two halves, really. The first half is a character study of a son ruined by his drug addiction and his mother who has done, is doing, and will always continue to do all she can to protect in love him. At 19 years of age, Ben is still young. While he has burned many bridges and lost the trust of all who know him, we do not know if the last stand by the family was an intervention to send him to rehab while detailing all of the consequences if he doesn’t. We can’t assume that he won’t to the sober living facility on his own either. We aren’t told. But what we do know is that this young man is 77 days sober and believes he has a gentle grasp on his addiction. He and we know very well that he has not conquered his demons. At every turn in this movie is the temptation to use or a haunting memory that evokes a deeply negative, thought-provoking emotional response in him. Hedges plays Ben in a way that makes you cheer for him and also to examine the relationships in your own life and either be glad that a loved one (like a child) hasn’t succumbed to the massive grip of drug addiction or to reinforce its colossal impact if that loved one has. Ben has hurt people, both in his family and outside of it. Drugs have ruined his life, and their hold on him, whether he ever uses them again or not, will continue to have their impact. In addition to hurting his loved one, Ben also wronged many people in social circles that no one wants to be part of, and now that he is home, they are ready to collect.

There is no glaring problem with Ben is Back. I mention that it is a tale of two halves. It evolves into something entirely different when the movie reaches its halfway point. When this happens in many movies, it destroys everything that the first half established. This happens much more frequently in movies than we care to remember. That didn’t happen here. The second half of the film, while different, was Ben having to make right some of which he wronged. In a couple of other reviews, I’ve read that it goes from a family drama to a mild suspense/mystery/thriller. That wasn’t the case at all. Sure there was some intrigue about what would ultimately happen to Ben has he returned to some of his old grounds, places he likely wished in his most ideal of dreams that he would never visit again. But the situational locations and some of the other planted scenes before aren’t inserted to transition this into some sort of thriller. Instead, they are added so that we can see Holly’s perspective of her son from angles old and new. Roberts is absolutely riveting as a mother who thought she knew everything about her son and all of his demons only to realize that she knew nothing about him at all. It’s as if she’s witnessing his rebirth, but this time it’s not in the comforts in her loving arms but in the seedy underworld of drugs that robbed him of all of his innocence. And she’s mad as hell, and it’s not at him at all.

Roberts delivers her best performance since 2013’s August: Osage County and one of the very best of her storied career. And this is Hedges’ best performance of his young career. Unfortunately, both of these performances will be overlooked by the voters. It just feels like this isn’t the story that voters look for anymore. It’s almost as if some of these Awards programs have their minds made up about its potential list of nominees before they even see the movie. Of course, there are anomalies, but they are exceptions to the rule and not the rule itself. It’s almost as if Ben is Back was hurt by not being based on a true story when, in fact, no story could be truer. Sure the events in this movie might not have happened in sequence and may never happen by a mom named Holly and a son named Ben, and, yes, the circumstances to which Holly literally drove herself to protect her son may be a little far-fetched. Most of the scenes with Ivy felt like she was trying too hard to be the family conscience, but this movie rounded into form. Each character felt three-dimensional. The strain experienced by both Holly and Ben was one that we wouldn’t wish upon anyone. We never felt safe with each character. We understood the toll that drugs had taken on both Ben and his family, and, despite how well he was doing as the film began, we knew that trouble was always around the bend. But, we didn’t know how it would strike and what its devastating consequences might be. All the way until the end, we were holding our breath…hoping for the best…fearing for the worst.

Ben is Back is fascinating. It is the family drama that we have been missing all year. As good as the intentions were of Boy Erased, Beautiful Boy, Leave No Trace, and others were in 2018, those films failed to deliver the knockout punch that Ben is Back brought from the tender first scenes to the harrowing final scenes. Hedges’ film smacks you hard across this face…in a way that is both a wake-up punch to hold your children as closely as you can and also to remind you that there are evils to this world that are beyond imaginable.

This is a film to be seen for sure. Netflix or Amazon is the way to go.

Plot 9/10
Character Development 9.5/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 9/10
Directing  9/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
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