Review: Ben is Back

The titular Ben (Lucas Hedges) is indeed back. A teenage drug addict, Ben shows up on his family’s doorstep on Christmas Eve. He’s out of rehab, and he’s not really supposed to be home without prior arrangement. His loving mother (Julia Roberts) is worried but also overjoyed to have her son for Christmas. Her husband (Courtney B. Vance) frankly wants nothing to do with the boy right now. Even his sister (Kathryn Newton) is a bit sceptical and wary. They manage to square it with Ben’s sponsor for him to stay for 24 hours, and his mother has very strict conditions about it that she will not back down from. This is not going to be an easy family reunion, troubling past will also need to be dealt with.

 

Movies about drug addicts are plentiful and tend to follow a fairly similar pattern plot-wise, even the best ones (“Clean and Sober”, “Days of Wine and Roses”, and “The Lost Weekend” being my personal favourites) don’t really reinvent the wheel. This 2019 film from writer-director Peter Hedges (the screenwriter of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “About a Boy”) is a really solid execution of the drug addict drama movie plot. You may not be terribly surprised by any of it, but it’s definitely well-made on all fronts.

 

I was really only watching this for Lucas Hedges (son of the filmmaker), an actor running the risk of typecasting but nonetheless a very talented actor. I certainly wasn’t watching it for Julia Roberts, who at best is hit-and-miss, and who also seemingly hasn’t smiled on camera since about 1994. She’s been the queen of the Resting Bitch Face before the term was even coined. Surprisingly, she’s actually terrific here in her best work since 1991’s underrated domestic abuse thriller “Sleeping With the Enemy”. She’s pretty much perfect here from moment one, never for a moment seeming like a movie star playing a character (i.e. Her bizarrely Oscar-winning push-up bra starring turn in “Erin Brockovich”), but actually convincing in the part. I’ve seen her do some solid work from time to time over the years (The terrific sleeper “Mystic Pizza”, the otherwise highly overrated “Pretty Woman”, “Secret in Their Eyes” – another underrated film), but she’s honestly never been better. In past roles her face has often appeared frozen, but here she wears this character’s every expression as she takes this rather troubling journey with her son. Hedges of course is outstanding in a perfect role for him. He does a particularly great job of conveying anxiety without resorting to over-the-top tics/facial expressions. I actually think both actors deserved Oscar nominations for this, they’re that good. The other stand out performance here is a small turn by David Zaldivar as a junkie acquaintance nicknamed ‘Spider’. He’s harrowingly convincing in quite short time. The always lovely Kathryn Newton is good too, in a much less important role, as is a no-nonsense Courtney B. Vance. He probably should’ve been in the film a bit more I think, the film having a fairly narrow mother-and-son focus for the most part. It’s a damn good thing Roberts and Hedges are so good then, since it’s pretty much just the two of them for the bulk of the film.

 

Although there’s one or two eye-rolling and corny moments, for the most part this is actually a pretty convincing depiction of the subject matter, at least to an outsider like myself. The unease and tension surrounding Ben’s arrival home is extremely well conveyed. Your heart breaks for the Roberts character. She loves her son so much, she’s probably aware it’s not going to stick this time, but it’s her son. She’s not oblivious or ignorant or especially in denial, either. She’s a mother and she’s gonna take the kid back in anyway.

 

Some will say this drug addiction story is sanitised Hollywood stuff, but I think it has a bit more grit to it than I expected. It ain’t “Stepmom”, that’s for damn sure. It also boasts two truly excellent lead performances. A solid, if not especially ground-breaking film.

 

Rating: B-