• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Europe Breaking News

Breaking News Stories from Europe and Around the World

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimers
  • DMCA
  • Privacy Policy
  • Submit your story
  • Show Search
Hide Search

You are here: Home / Ben Is Back has great performances but needed more back story

Ben Is Back has great performances but needed more back story

· March 14, 2019 ·

IT’S Christmas Eve in New York. Ben, an addict 77 days sober arrives back at the family home unexpectedly. His Mother Holly is ecstatic, as are his young step-siblings. His sister and stepfather are, however, deeply suspicious of his motives.

Ben insists he’s there with the blessing of his sponsor and has no intention of relapsing but as with all roads to recovery – it is rarely uneventful.

A well made analysis of a strong family being tested by addiction opens up later into an almost thriller/road movie as the more inward looking story tries to give itself a finite purpose and ending – and the film suffers for it.

The is very much a mother/son movie – with Holly getting far more than she bargained for when insisting Ben doesn’t leave her sight. The problem is as we descend into the depths of the drug community we’re also thrown into a pretty tired bunch of imagery that feels too well-trodden.

I’d liked to have seen more of the backstory. How did Ben get there? There’s a fleeting mention of his natural father (Miles’ dad) and it’s hinted that’s where the troubles began but it’s a scab left unpicked.

None of this this will do anything to temper the rise of Lucas Hedges, who turns in another powerhouse performance (Scene stealing in everything from Ladybird to Three Billboards). I see things in him I haven’t seen since Phillip Seymour-Hoffman.

The pressure of being directed by his dad must have been hard, but he’s a sympathetic addict, completely different to Timotheé Chalamet’s version in ‘Beautiful Boy’ late last year. Both are raw, both sneaky, both just scared boys.

Julia Roberts really wows though. The skittish and raw anxiety of Holly and the complete desperation she shows in both wanting to believe her son whilst knowing he’s lying is the films core. Roberts has never been better – and I’m struggling, with the exception of Olivia Colman, to think of a more believable actress.

My main gripe – and it’s one that almost ruined the film for me – I just couldn’t get my head around this being set on Christmas Eve? Am I alone in wondering who these families are that aren’t in complete and utter chaos?

Exclusive

LOUIS’ AGONY

Louis Tomlinson’s sister Félicité tragically dies at 18 after ‘heart attack’

Exclusive

It’s over!

Jacqueline Jossa dumps Dan Osborne after he cheated on her with Love Island star

Exclusive

THE HARD REALITY

Porn star has sex with 20 MEN as six Brits watch on for shocking BBC doc

Exclusive

‘DISTRAUGHT’

Louis Tomlinson pulls out of Comic Relief to grieve sister Félicité’s death

Exclusive

PLACES TO CHEAT

We reveal where hit ITV drama Cheat was filmed

JES THE TICKET

Jessie J & Channing Tatum hold hands as they’re seen in London for 1st time

In this household they realise, thanks to Ben’s return, they need some more gifts for the next morning. So, after just mooching around the house, they take a leisurely drive into the local mall where people are just strolling around having a coffee. There’s time to try on a bunch of clothes. No-one in America panic buys crap on Christmas seemingly. The family then go to church. No food is being prepared, no sellotape is missing, no tempers are fraying. The story then moves from the afternoon through the night right into Christmas Day morning and yet STILL people are just, well, not doing Christmas. There is one scene where we see a drugs run happening at approximately 4am Christmas Day. Nah, mate.

Peter Hedges manages to highlight the hypocrisy in addiction well. Mothers aren’t allowed access emergency resuscitation drugs from an all-night pharmacy because of lack of paperwork, yet addicts are showered in needles by the same cashier.

I enjoyed this, the performances are fantastic – but I preferred it without the drama, if that makes sense.

Ben is Back 103 mins (15)

★★★☆☆

  • Ben Affleck Hid His Slave-Owning Ancestor Because It Made Him Feel Bad
  • I Need Something Unique And Fast That My Kid Will Think Is Awesome! What Car Should I Buy?
  • No, You Really Don't Need A New Analog Supercar
  • Google I/O: Day 1 (live blog)
  • The Unlikely Struggle Of The Family Whose Neighbor Is Area 51
  • The Tonys Beg the Question: What's Next for American Theater?
  • The Game That Made Me Realize I’ve Let Down My Family
  • Revver puts money where its talent is
  • Night at the New York Public Library
  • Steve Jobs resigns from Apple (roundup)

Filed Under: Film Reviews Jamie East, Julia Roberts, Film reviews, Jamie, East, Lucas Hedges, great stories of the bible, great success story, great performances, great stories, great performance, development needs examples for performance review, Great Performances At The Met, great story, great customer service stories, great leadership stories, needs improvement performance review, need improvement to increase professional performance, need improvement performance review, great story to tell, Great Performances on PBS

Primary Sidebar

RSS Recent Stories

  • The ‘Boris bounce’ is coming – but this conjuring trick will leave many Brexiteers disappointed
  • How the end of Moore’s Law will usher in a new era in computing
  • Special report: Sunderland aiming to be the ‘poster city for Brexit’
  • Dan Osborne posts defiant message of support for I’m A Celebrity’s Jacqueline Jossa
  • Helena Bonham Carter, 53, looks in high spirits as she cosies up to beau Rye Dag Holmboe, 32, at photography exhibition
Copyright © 2019 Europe Breaking News. Power by Wordpress.