Prime Video is set to remove a “fantastic” Michael Sheen drama very soon, with viewers only having a matter of days to catch it. Beautiful Boy (not to be confused with the Timothée Chalamet movie) was originally released back in 2010.
The story centres on a married couple called Bill and Kate Carroll, played by Sheen and Beef’s Maria Bello, whose life is turned upside down when their teenage son Sam (Kyle Gallner) perpetrates a school shooting, before dying by suicide.
To escape the media, they go to the wife’s brother’s house, though as they ponder on what could’ve driven their son to undertake such a horrific act, resentment builds in their relationship.
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Beautiful Boy is currently available to stream on Prime Video, though is set to be removed in five days’ time.
The movie was called “a fantastic, hard hitting, dark drama” by one viewer on IMDb, who added: “9.0/10, for Sheen’s outstanding acting, as well as Bello, and Gallner’s fantastic portrayals.”
“Wise, emotional and terrifically performed,” another fan added. “While the fallout from the unconscionable number of tragedies that inspired this film tends to focus mainly on the perpetrator, then on the victims and their families, Beautiful Boy wisely forces its audience to think about the side of the story that is rarely heard.”
A third suggested it is a “raw and realistic look at society in which very few filmmakers dare to explore”, calling it “probably one of the most powerful and realistic films that [they had] seen in many years”.
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The movie was also largely well-received by critics, sitting at a 71% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes from 66 reviews.
The Washington Examiner labelled it a “raw, real and a difficult film to watch”, and Assignment X suggested that while the film was “imperfect”, what “works about it is very potent indeed”.
Directed and co-written by Shawn Ku, the movie also stars Rogue One’s Alan Tudyk, Terminator Salvation’s Moon Bloodgood, The Walking Dead’s Austin Nichols and music icon Meat Loaf.
Beautiful Boy is currently available to stream on Prime Video.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Â Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.