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Maria Bello, Michael Sheen, Alan Tudyk, Moon Bloodgood, Austin Nichols ... see more see more... , Kyle Gallner , Deidrie Henry , Bruce French , Logan South , Nigel Gibbs , Brooke Lyons , Michael Call , Cody Wai-Ho Lee , Jessie Usher , Davidson Park , Caleb Pearson , Joshua Shannon , Darren O'Hare , Myra Turley , Bella King , Meat Loaf , Drake Kemper , Mary Jane Gibson , Kylie Anderson , Tor Campbell , Judith DiGiacomo , Joe Dioletto , Stephen Murano , Josephine Ullrich , Philip Zurfluh , Gregory H. Alpert , David Lipper , Kelli Kirkland Powers

Bill (Michael Sheen) and Kate (Maria Bello) hopelessly try to find some hint of an explanation after finding out that their only son committed a mass shooting at his university before taking his own l... read more read more...ife. They struggle numbly through the funeral, the media onslaught, and the awkward pity from relatives and friends. Their already strained marriage is tested as they realize all they have left with each other is their shared grief and confusion-and the unfortunate legacy of their son. This life-altering event forces Bill and Kate to face their feelings of guilt, rage, blame, self-discovery -and ultimately hope- so that they can finally see each other and their chance for happiness again with clear eyes. -- (c) Anchor Bay

Flixster Users

55% liked it

6,827 ratings

Critics

70% liked it

56 critics

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Shawn Ku

Release Date: June 3, 2011

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DVD Release Date: October 11, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (257)

  • dunmyer
    November 13, 2011
    dunmyer
    "Beautiful Boy" is a fairly good melodrama about a married couple struggling to comprehend why their son commits a Columbine-style massacre at his college. The subject matter is great, and Michael Sheen and Maria Bello really put their all into their performances.

    But there's... read more something missing. It doesn't go beyond what you'd expect from a melodrama on a basic-cable channel. The script is just too thin. The direction from Shawn Ku (his first feature film) is sensitive but a bit pedestrian.
  • LWOODS04
    November 8, 2011
    LWOODS04
    Cast:Michael Sheen, Maria Bello, Alan Tudyk, Moon Bloodgood, Kyle Gallner, Meat Loaf, Darren O'Hare, Deidrie Henry, Bruce French

    Director:Shawn Ku

    Summary: This heartrending drama stars Michael Sheen as Bill Carroll, who is contemplating separating from his wife, Kate (Ma... read moreria Bello), when the unimaginable happens: Their 18-year-old son, Sam (Kyle Gallner), commits mass murder at his university before killing himself. While coping with their grief, Bill and Kate must deal with the insatiable media, other parents furious at them for their son's actions and their own questions about their culpability.

    My Thoughts: "Such a sad, dark, emotional story. You never really hear about the shooter's parents or family when these unfortunate things happen. I was eager to see this side of the story. The acting is very good by Maria Bello and Michael Sheen. I was more impressed by Sheen's performance. I just believed him more maybe in his character. But together they were fantastic. It's unfortunate that the son's actions left behind a huge mess for his parents. They are in a way paying for the crime he committed. In the beginning Bill is the strong one pushing through trying to move forward as Kate is still in the process of trying to come to grips of what happened. But by the end the roles dramatically change and it's truly heartbreaking to watch."
  • Saxia
    October 30, 2011
    Saxia
    Nice movie about the psychological effects that these parents have to deal with after their son commits a mass shooting at his university and kills himself.
    Although I think more could've been explored with this viewpoint, I like the choices the director made by leaving out the m... read moreedia frenzy, the details and the hysteria that usually accompanies these kind of traumatic experiences.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    September 20, 2011
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "To confront the truth, first they had to face each other."

    A married couple on the verge of separation are leveled by the news their 18-year-old son committed a mass shooting at his college, then took his own life.

    ... read moreREVIEW
    The film follows the emotional journey of Bill (Michael Sheen) and wife Kate (Maria Bello) who are coping with the loss of their son from a college shooting incident. The blurred foreground as you peak through a window, or from another room in the house, to see and hear a conversation is perfect as their lives are forever going to be in a fish bowl. We all want to stare and look, but are afraid to get close and truly understand what they are experiencing. The film deals with a topic that is for the most part unfamiliar to all of us. We have seen the unfortunate tragedies of Thurston HS (1998), Columbine HS (1999), and Virginia Tech (2007). However, the emotions of the families are completely foreign.

    The supporting roles are quietly powerful with Alan Tudyk (mostly known for his role of Steve the Pirate in "Dodgeball") as the brother of Kate, who defends his sister to his own wife when she is acting like "supermom" to her nephew. Then there is Meat Loaf as a hotel manager that says what we all are thinking. However, the best of the supporting cast might be Deidre Henry as the neighbor who quietly delivers the best performance. Her comforting hug to Kate is exactly what you in the audience might want to do.
  • fb796967648
    June 5, 2011
    fb796967648
    A tiny, personal and intense film that starts to have diminishing returns almost immediately, BEAUTIFUL BOY tracks a marriage as it descends into hell after the only son of distant parents goes on a shooting spree at his college. Michael Sheen and Maria Bello very honestly go fo... read morer broke as they trace the despair and desperation of two lost souls, but the writing and direction lets them down almost on a scene-by-scene level. By the time they are screaming at each other in a hotel room things like "it's all your fault" you may find yourself wishing you could scream back (just a little). And that's not a good thing. The conclusions at hand here are just not original enough to justify the painful process used to arrive at them.
  • panta2
    November 1, 2011
    panta2
    A powerful drama with interesting concept... Director Shawn Ku in his debut successfully explores the subject of school shooting with unique perspective on this delicate issue. He is not focusing on the tragic incident and the events leading up to it, but confronts its devastatin... read moreg aftermath. Interestingly, the killer is almost entirely absent throughout the film and in his place, we look through the eyes of his parents... Bill (Michael Sheen) and Kate (Maria Bello) are a married couple who are tightly wound and devoted to their work -- Bill is a businessman, Kate proofreads books - and their marriage has taken a turn for the worse. On the verge of breaking up they receive shocking news -- their eighteen-year-old son Sam (Kyle Gallner), a college freshman, went on a shooting spree that claimed the lives of several people before he turned his gun on himself.

    Maria Bello and Michael Sheen in this movie gave heartrending performances playing parents steadily led by the director Ku. They managed together to show us remarkable insight into the world of two middle-aged parents faced with unspeakable anguish. Worth watching!
  • burgerstar
    October 31, 2011
    burgerstar
    Really depressing. Michael Sheen turns in another great performance.
  • xas5
    February 28, 2012
    xas5
    In what could have been a truly moving drama about two parents dealing with their son being involved in a school shooting/suicide, becomes a flat and rather emotionless film. From prior performances, Michael Sheen and Maria Bello both have shown the capacity to take your breath, ... read moreyet come off removed from this would-be heartfelt piece. Instead, they mope their way through this rather original depiction as only shells of themselves. The idea is sound, but the execution is lacking.
  • fb20312798
    November 3, 2011
    fb20312798
    Michael Sheen and Maria Bello do manage to create some really marvelous chemistry and are basically the best part of the film. Its an interesting examination, but it feels too clinical in its execution. There were scenes were I half expected some psychologist to suddenly coldly n... read morearrate and describe in detail what stage of grief was occurring at that particular moment.
  • irisheyes686
    January 23, 2012
    irisheyes686
    I was hoping for much more. I was expecting to be moved and touched emotionally, but I really didn't connect to the story or any of the characters like I should have.

View All Beautiful Boy Reviews

Critic Reviews

Rick Groen
June 17, 2011
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

In Beautiful Boy, the themes are vast but the picture is small, and the ensuing emptiness is what the characters are meant to feel -- not us. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
June 17, 2011
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

An excruciating drama about a couple caught in the aftermath of a pivotal moment involving their college-age son. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
June 16, 2011
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

At a certain point lofty objectivity is just a refusal to engage, and no raw camera work can disguise it. Full Review

Wesley Morris
June 16, 2011
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

This feels like a movie that won a high school current-events contest: Take a tragedy, make a movie. Full Review

Bill Goodykoontz
June 16, 2011
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

Ku focuses on the effects the aftermath has on those intimately involved, and they are grim. Full Review

Linda Barnard
June 16, 2011
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

Ku gives us the shooter's parents' view of the tragedy and it is just as devastating as anything we can imagine among victims' families. Full Review

J. R. Jones
June 13, 2011
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

The most daring aspect of the film, fully realized in Bello's grave performance, may be the notion that a parent can invest endless love in a child and one day find him unfathomable. Full Review

Michael Phillips
June 9, 2011
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

If the key performances in "Beautiful Boy" were any less honest, the film's half-formed suppositions would undo it utterly. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
June 9, 2011
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

Beautiful Boy is not an entertainment but an experience. And a kind of cinematic sensitivity training. Full Review

Roger Ebert
June 9, 2011
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A film like this can end honestly in only one way, and Ku is true to it. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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    • Sammy: As the boy and the girl ran out from the station wagon the beach was happy. It was happy to have their small footprints upon it, it was happy to have holes dug with plastic shovels, it was even happy to have paper wrappers blowing about after they'd gone. But the beach knew there would no longer be this to look forward to, no more careless play, only lonely snowfalls to mark the beginnings of an endless winter. The beach loved the boy and the girl, though had no way of telling them and it knew this was their last time together. Things would be different from now on, it didn't know if they would be better or worse, but for certain things would change.
    • Bill: There is no defense for what he did!
    • Kate: Did we do something? Did we not do something?
    • Bill: We are deeply sorry for the devastation our son has caused.
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Beautiful Boy Trivia

  • I once was a little monster, and at one time blue screened with a little boy, stood up for millions, and im currently working with alot of beautiful woman, who am I ?  Answer »
  • This is final line to a beautiful autherian tale...Name the Movie....?One of what we all are, Pelly. Less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea. But it seems that some of the drops sparkle, Pelly. Some of them do sparkle! Run, boy! Run, boy! Run! Oh, run, my boy.?  Answer »
  • In the movie LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, what did the little boy believe he won for winning the game he and his father were playing?  Answer »
  • "Oh beautiful fairy, with the loveliest pair of wings" This line was sung by the father a naughty wooden boy. Do you know the movie in which it is sung?  Answer »
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