Movie Review: Ben Is Back (Hollywood)

Producer- Peter Hedges, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson and Teddy Schwarzman

Director- Peter Hedges

Star Cast- Julia Roberts, Courtney B. Vance, Kathrin Newton, Lucas Hedges, Alexandra Park

Genre- Social

Compelling to the Core!

Jyothi Venkatesh

Rating-Nineteen-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve. Ben's mom Holly (Julia Roberts), wary of her son's drug addiction and his family wonders why he is back.Over a turbulent 24 hours, several new truths are unveiled, and a mother's undying love gets put to the test as Holly does everything in her power to keep Ben who is out on a Christmas reprieve from a de-addiction centre, clean. Director Peter Hedges (who has also written the film) drives homes the message effectively through a taut story that nonetheless devolves into a faux thriller in the last 15 minutes. The film begins with a rehearsal for a Christmas church skit in which the three children of Holly (Roberts) – Ivy (Kathryn Newton), and two young children of color – play roles. Sadly, the gripping plot runs the gamut from being a mother-son relationship to a thriller which tends to take the focus off the former.ve

Thankfully, the screenplay doesn’t make drug-addiction the never-ending blurs of weak will that most films playing to the gallery do, most of the times. As far as performances go, undoubtedly Julia Roberts steals the scene and towers over every other actor in the film with her awe- inspiring performance as the mother. As her son Ben, Lucas Hedges superbly underplays his character with aplomb. On the whole the director Peter hedges explores very beautifully the evil effects of addition in a family, without go overboard or boring the audiences and making them tired with verbal diarrhea.

In a nutshell, go for Ben Is Back as it has strong performances from the Oscar winner enlivens a film about a distraught mother dealing with the return of her addict son.

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