BEAUTIFUL BOY. The Acting is Remarkable [REVIEW]

Looking back from today, Timothée Chalamet’s status as one of the hottest names in Hollywood feels almost inevitable. After his breakthrough performance as Elio in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, a kind of cult quickly formed around him. An Oscar nomination followed, along with a role in Greta Gerwig’s much-discussed Lady Bird and an appearance in Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York—a film whose release, at the time, seemed perpetually uncertain. Millions of fans around the world soon joined the chorus, cementing Chalamet’s position as a generational star in the making. What is clear in hindsight is that Chalamet never rested on his laurels. He kept working relentlessly, and one of the key milestones of that period was Beautiful Boy.

For his performance, Chalamet received, among other honors, nominations for a Golden Globe and a Critics’ Choice Award—early signals of how seriously the industry had begun to take him.

Van Groeningen’s film is based on the true story of Nic and David Sheff, told in Nic’s memoir Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines and in David’s book Beautiful Boy. Both men served as consultants on the film. Nic, portrayed by Chalamet, struggles with drug addiction: what began as smoking marijuana in high school escalated into intravenous methamphetamine use. His addiction devastates his father, David (played by the widely admired Steve Carell). Desperate to save his son, David takes him to various rehabilitation centers, neglecting in the process the new family he has started after divorcing Nic’s mother. Can David still save his firstborn’s future—or is it already too late?

Van Groeningen opens the film in an intriguing way, dispensing with conventional exposition. We learn about the bond between David and Nic through flashbacks introduced via associative editing. For instance, David drives through the city searching for his son, who has fled a rehab facility. A distinctive song plays from the speakers. Suddenly, almost as if by magic, we are transported to the distant past: Nic and David are driving together, listening to the very same song. Van Groeningen employs this striking device several more times in the first half of the film.

At first, this method of editing and storytelling creates a certain sense of dissonance. Over time, however, one grows accustomed to it and ultimately comes to appreciate the originality of the director’s concept. In the second half of Beautiful Boy, Van Groeningen abandons this fragmented narration in favor of a more classical, linear structure, allowing viewers to connect more deeply with the characters. By deliberately removing the barrier of formal experimentation, the filmmaker trusts that the emotions of a desperate father and a son teetering between life and death will hit with even greater force.

And they do—largely thanks to two outstanding performances: Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet. Until not long before this film, Carell was associated almost exclusively with comedic roles, primarily due to appearances in movies such as Crazy, Stupid, Love, Evan Almighty, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Yet for several years now, he had been proving that he could thrive in more demanding dramatic material as well—most notably in Foxcatcher, where he played John du Pont, an aging millionaire and sports fanatic. That role earned Carell his first—and so far only—Oscar nomination.

In Beautiful Boy, Carell once again demonstrates his ability to excel in serious drama. Scenes in which his David finally releases long-suppressed emotions, raising his voice in front of his loved ones, are deeply affecting. They allow us to almost physically feel the tragedy of the older Sheff—a man slowly losing his beloved son and powerless to stop it, no matter how hard or how long he tries.

Timothée Chalamet is every bit as compelling alongside him. Fortunately, the young actor avoids falling into repetition and does not simply recycle his performance from Call Me by Your Name. As Elio, Chalamet relied primarily on subtle glances and gestures directed at Oliver. In Beautiful Boy, he is given much more room to maneuver, including several intense monologues and sharp verbal confrontations with Carell. Did he rise to the challenge Van Groeningen set for him? The Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations mentioned earlier speak for themselves.

From today’s perspective, it is clear that a bright future lay ahead of the twenty-two-year-old actor, and that a second Oscar race was only a matter of time. It was even plausible back then that Chalamet might return to the Academy Awards stage within months thanks to his role as Nic in Beautiful Boy. Whether he would take home the statuette was uncertain—but the trajectory was unmistakable.

For anyone who was already a fan of Timothée Chalamet’s talent, Beautiful Boy was an easy recommendation. The young actor delivers yet another powerful showcase of his abilities, matched by an equally strong performance from Steve Carell. These two remarkable acting turns remain the film’s greatest assets. One final note: it was well worth staying through the end credits a little longer than usual—those who did were rewarded with a small audio surprise.