Summary:
A recovering drug addict must battle towards sobriety with the help from his mother.
My Thoughts
Ben is Back is not an original movie, despite the subverting trailers for this film, it is exactly what you think. A now sober drug addict son comes back to his family, and while attempting to cope with his sobriety chaos ensues, we've seen similar narratives to this, recently with “Beautiful Boy” and in the past with “A Requiem for a Dream”, both dealing with harrowing drug addiction. And while this genre of film is a bit over done, it can still be effective if done right. And while Ben is Back doesn't quite hit all of it's marks, it's definitely a worthy watch and one that doesn't overdo the message.
Addiction is a hell of a thing, it's disastrous, and crippling it's something that needs to be handled with a tender but exact hand in an entertainment context. Peter Hedges (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”) executes the direction in an admirable, but ultimately too safe way. While addiction is a very sensitive theme, in needs to be viscerally engaging as well as morally engaging. “Ben is Back” hits the morals hard, but it just lacks the the imagery this sort of film needs, it's relatable in a family context, it shows how harrowing and heart wrenching this can be for a family. What it doesn't show is just how violent and disturbing something like heroin addiction can be. If this film had a touch of the raw intensity "A Requiem for a Dream'" had then this could have been a top tier addiction film. And while it's not nearly as sappy as the likes of "Beautiful Boy” it falls right in the middle, not knowing quite what it needs to be.
Films about addiction rely heavily on the actors commitment, and Lucas Hedges (“Mid 90s”) with Julia Roberts (“Erin Brockovich”) make an incredibly engaging pair. Julia Robert being the Mother who's love will never leave her drug addicted son, she has a few scenes that sent chills down my spine, she has a visceral realism to this character that really impressed me. Lucas Hedges had been a real force lately, and “Ben is Back” only furthers what is hopefully a long fruitful career for the young actor. He matches the a veteran actor like Roberts with surprising ease, the two have a real bond as mother and son that never really gets overly sentimental, it's a relatable story and the heart is there, it is just executed in much too safe manner.
There are some really promising scenes here, when Ben's dog gets stolen he has a slew of people who he thinks could have done with because of this addicted past. He goes to many houses in pursuit, but ultimately come up empty handed, there's subtle moments of intensity before the entering of these homes of his past that never really escalate in a way this kind of film needs, it's as if the director wasn't sure if he wanted to push the R rating past some harsh language. There's just nothing visceral about this film, it's emotionally satisfying and morally relatable, but it just doesn't hit the message hard enough. In this time when heroin has become an epidemic, this needs to be hammered into the viewer, it needs to show just how damaging this thing can be and Ben is Back never really hits that home, but there is a valiant effort.
This film wants to be so much more than what it is, and with a constantly shifting tone, from family drama to crime story, it just staggers under its own weight, nothing really ever fleshes itself out fully to make it better than the competition out there for this genre. The performances are typically great, the stellar cast gives it their all from a very safe script that never wants to break any barriers. But this film does hit hard on addiction and it will resonate to many families out there, it's a very accessible and non biased film on addiction, showing that addicts are people who really need help. It has an impact but it's just not enough to make an impression.
I give Ben is Back 3.5 stars out of 5.
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