Review: Honey Boy

-
You're here because he pays you.

Otis is an actor. We split time with him at age 12 (Noah Jupe) when he's living with his father James (Shia Labeouf) in a seedy motel while being a successful child star. We also see him at 22 (Lucas Hedges) in rehab for alcoholism and trying to process all that damage his father has done.

Shia LaBeouf is clearly an actor with a lot of baggage. Most of it coming to light within the last few years, but he took a step back and wrote this story about his life in order to come to terms with it all. Honey Boy is essentially Shia's therapy session. And what a session it is. It had to have taken a lot of courage to write this, and a lot of energy to get it produced. Director Alma Har'el shoots in an almost curious manner. Like we're not sure if we should really be there watching Otis go through these things. 

Noah Jupe is turning out to be a solid young actor. I loved him in this. You want to reach through the screen and hold his hand and give him the stability that he deserves. Lucas Hedges doesn't have as much to do as Jupe as we spend less time with him, but Hedges is always reliable when he's needed to cry or be angry. He did a good job of coming off like early 20's Shia. As for Shia himself, stepping into the role of his own father, that can't be easy. You can tell he gives this his all, and it will be a crime if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination. He's always been a strong actor, and this is his best performance.

Much like therapy, it can feel disjointed and messy at times, but it feels very intentional. The film zips by at a brisk 94 minutes and even though we know where Shia the actor is now, I couldn't help but be a little sad we had to say goodbye to Otis so soon.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "Dolly Parton has her shit together." - James (Shia LaBeouf)


Comments

  1. thevoid99December 18, 2019 at 7:43 PM

    I am interesting in seeing this despite the fact that I think Shia is overrated though he can be good when he allows himself to just be low-key and not give in to his ego.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 18, 2019 at 9:57 PM

      I feel like I haven't seen anything new from Shia in years, even though I know American Honey was fairly recent. He's so good though, you should definitely give this a shot.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more