But she think she is. When Dolly gets to the shabby house, she finds Ponce barking outside the home. Shes going to get clothes for him. . A woman walks alone in a dark alley and finds her son's phone in a garbage dumpster. how to delete arbitersports account. Spencer seems drunk and in bad shape but has enough strength to knock Ben over. He slips meaningful little asides into out-of-the-way places. Can you please just exit the store? Yes. The range where they both go in the scene, the number of places they go, is emblematic of all the places we go in the film.. Added . He doesnt have the desperation that Timothe Chalamet displayed in Beautiful Boy that made that performance resonate. Ben, unexpectedly home from rehab, scares almost everyone. With the bathroom door opened- despite his protest. Ben tries to buy his dog back, but Clayton says Ben must do a drug run for him. Advertisement: "Ben Is Back" shifts into gear once mom and son leave the house for a trip to the. The questions his behavior creates for the people who love him are equally excruciating. Christmas can be emotionally fraught no matter who you are or what family you grew up in, but it can be especially tricky when youre an addict, and even more so when you have a tenuous grasp on your recovery. But thats what Holly (and Hedges) does. And thats especially clear when he runs into people from his past. (Particularly so soon after another film about a privileged young addict Beautiful Boy.) The storyline revolves around Ben Burns, an athlete dealing with opioid addiction. That is both a blessing and a curse. 10. Theyve just come from a 12-step meeting. They start in very different places from where they end up. I never fully buy into its truth but this is one of those rare Hollywood movies that keeps you guessing. Although Maggies father smashes the windowpane of Dollys car out of vengeance, he seemingly has not abducted Ponce. The young actor seems to have cornered the market on playing troubled youth, but it is hard to care about his character because Hedges has no range. Ben is Back or is he? A woman tells another woman, "You can't help them. And then watching how she can, on a dime, flip from the happy mom to panicked mom and fierce mom Where did you get this? The scene is a delight. Recent episodes in Anatomy of a. The elder Hedges needs to make amends. Lucas Hedges has to work a tricky balancing act of appearing. "One of the 50 Coolest Websitesthey simply tell it like it is" - TIME, The current economic climate has reduced our revenues. Holly finds drugs on Ben and he claims a girl at the meeting gave them to him. he locks himself in a mall fitting room. Know when new reviews are published We will never sell or share your email address with anybody and you can unsubscribe at any time, We will never sell or share your email address with anybody and you can unsubscribe at any time, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Meanwhile, Holly goes to Maggie's mom for help, who gives her a med kit for reviving a person who has suffered an overdose and her car keys to go find Ben. Ben Is Back takes place in snowy, idyllic, small-town New York, and Ben comes from a family of comfort and means. Julia Roberts films Ben Is Back in sub-zero weather https://t.co/kmKOaHd0oB #Yonkers pic.twitter.com/LPHHL3bZh3, YonkersRU (@YonkersRoundup) January 8, 2018. Happy to see him but Holly is also wary, as she does not want his instability to affect the other children. All rights reserved. It is a big BUT uttered from Holly's tough love side. What's coming to your cinema in 2023, For your consideration the potential 2023 Oscar winners, We spent a day streaming bad Christmas movies and this is what it did to our brain, Here's when people will get the next cost of living payment in 2023, 'My elderly mother was in an ambulance for 18 hours. Scott Dec. 5, 2018 When the title character shows up early in "Ben Is Back" just before Christmas, at his. With the help of Liam and Lacey, Ben goes to the attic room and finds his old stash. Will he be dead on the floor with a needle sticking out of his arm? Dolly gets nervous, and Neals worries trouble her more since she wants to give Ben a chance. On the contrary, what is so moving and effective about Robertss work here is her shrewd subversion of her long-established persona. by Marc on January 17, 2019 in Connect. The production unit lensed several exterior scenes along Lake Avenue and Nepperhan Avenue, Central Park Avenue, and Mildred Street. The next scene they're at a gas station with no explanation as to how they got the broken down vehicle there. Ben goes with mother, stepdad (Courtney B. Vance) and siblings to an evening church service, at which his sister (Kathryn Newton) is the featured singer, despite an apparent inability to sing in. A young man says that his mother found him upside down on the stairs with a needle in his arm and that his dog was trying to keep him awake. Copyright The Big Issue Limited 2021. Move sliders from 0-10 in any combination, check and uncheck MPAA ratings and use keywords to further filter results -- please let us know what you think. US Release Date: December 7, 2018 Starring: Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges Directed By: Peter Hedges Synopsis: Follows the charming yet troubled Ben Burns (Hedges), who returns home to his. Ben has something hes not saying. Dolly says that Ben is with her, but Ivy has installed trackers on the cell phones of the house. These scenes are the most engaging, but that may be because they are action-oriented, and the characters have finally stopped freakin talking about their problems. It starts at the mall, where she sees the elderly physician whose painkiller prescription she blames for Bens habit, and where Ben crosses paths with an old acquaintance. The crew filmed some scenes in Sloatsburg, a village in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County. Ben Is Back Pits a Dazzling Julia Roberts Against the Opioid Scourge Alan Scherstuhl December 18, 2018 9:00AM In Ben Is Back, Julia Roberts (left) stars as Holly Burns, an ordinary. The storyline revolves around Ben Burns, an athlete dealing with opioid addiction. Director Peter Hedges Writer Peter Hedges Stars Julia Roberts Lucas Hedges Courtney B. Vance See production, box office & company info Watch on HBO Max with subscription More watch options Add to Watchlist 145 User reviews 162 Critic reviews 66 Metascore Awards However, Neal and Ivy think differently Neal, since he has paid for Bens rehab sessions, and Ivy, since as Bens biological sister, Ivy has seen Ben since childhood. All rights reserved. The film begins like a home invasion thriller as a young guy attempts to break into a house. How can he live with what hes done? Check out the new movie clip for Ben Is Back starring Lucas Hedges! for language throughout and some drug use. And like that film, it features privileged white folks at the center, as if to reinforce the idea that addiction cuts a swath through families regardless of race, class, or gender. Vendors are amongst the most vulnerable people affected. In addition, the team toured Mamaroneck, lensing a few enticing sequences on location. They end up at the home of Maggies father Bens ex-girlfriend, who died from a presumed drug overdose. Lopez, who turned 52 on Saturday, posted the steamy picture as part of a series of photos in which she donned a printed string bikini, marking her birthday. A young man talks about his history teacher having an unlimited supply of "oxy" and other opioids. Reports suggested that a few sequences in the film may have been lensed along Beach Avenue and Linden Avenue as well. Ben has been in rehab for quite a few months, struggling with an Oxycotin addiction. (But were still going to focus on the sad rich, straight, young white guys.). She may be too deep in her own suffering, and the film may be too absorbed in her feelings, to grasp that fully. Story of 19-year-old Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges), a young man with substance abuse issues who unexpectedly returns to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera. Ultimately, Roberts just seems miscast. . Ben Is Back NYT Critic's Pick Directed by Peter Hedges Drama R 1h 43m By A.O. In Ben Is Back, Julia Roberts (left) . Roberts never quite disappears into her role as a sacrificial mom. She has made sacrifices, worked hard, raised good kids and as a result has earned a certain amount of deference. If the thought has indeed crossed your mind, allow us to enlighten you. A young man seems nervous when he sees another young man in a shopping mall. It is all calculated emotional button-pushing. Was Ben Is Back, about an addicts unexpected return home, meant to be a holiday hate-watch? We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we accept compliments too. After looking for Ben all night, Holly is overwrought and goes to a police station. They are the main couple of the film series.They first meet each other at the beginning of Descendants and they later started dating and became a couple. Its not as interesting narratively or as relatable emotionally. And then she checks him because she has concerns. Ben is jumpy, shaky, perhaps not ready for this yet. In the place, Dolly finds Ben almost dead. As per sources, a few scenes were even lensed at a property on Johnsontown Road, simply known as The Farm. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges are pictured filming a Scene for 'Ben is Back' at a shopping mall in White Plains, New York 03.01.2018 Advertisement. Ben soon makes eye contact with a man who is presumably linked to his drug-dealing. But this is one of those rare Hollywood movies that keeps you guessing, where you dont see the ending coming 20 minutes in. The film highlights many shades of Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges' central roles, Holly and Ben. Not a burglar it turns out but Ben (played by the directors son Lucas Hedges), the familys oldest kid, who is back from rehab unexpectedly for the holidays. And then theres Julia Roberts. Ben Is Back SUBSTANCE USE - A woman puts prescription medications from a medicine cabinet in a bag and hides them in a closet, a young woman tells a young man that he was her dealer, many people using drugs stand around barrel fires and seem high, a young man delivers money to a drug dealer and returns to another dealer with drugs (the dealer tastes the drugs and gives the delivery person a . "[13] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Her tics and her smile are overly familiar, but her performance does work when she is being empathetic. Peter Hedges, whose previous features as a director are Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, keeps his sentimental tendencies on ice here. See production, box office & company info, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Julia Roberts/Patrick Wilson. After mall PDA, AJ Raval insists Aljur Abrenica just . While Neal and Ivy may be against it, Dolly will probably reattempt to integrate Ben into society. But then in the second half of Ben Is Back, it becomes a different kind of movie: a low-key thriller in which Ben and Holly are forced to run around town, revisiting his misdeeds in search of clues to a mystery. Just as his performance in Boy Erased failed to convince he was struggling with his sexuality, Hedges never seems to be truly fighting addiction here. For the time, Ben only wants the dog back. As the film suggests, his list of sins is wide and deep, and many of his past indiscretions will be revealed, like doors opening on an Advent calendar, over the course of the story. Ben Is Back is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Peter Hedges, and starring Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges and Courtney B. Vance. 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