Ben is Back - Review

Ben is Back

Academy Award winner Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) and Tony Award winner Courtney Vance (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) play a nuclear family husband and wife, along Lucas Hedges as their son “Ben” and Kathryn Newton as their daughter in a story written and directed by Peter Hedges. Writer Hedges developed the screenplays to two of my favorite films all time in “What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)” and “About a Boy (2002)”. Now Director Hedges decides to take his writing skills to combine it with working behind the camera to deliver his first solo directing debut effort in the film called “Ben is Back”.

In what feels like a story spanning only 48 hours, we see early on a loving and abundantly happy “Holly” (Roberts) who is attending an evening church Christmas recital practice with her two adolescent children “Liam” and “Lacey” from her second marriage with “Neal” (Vance). Along with her teenaged daughter “Ivy (Newton) from her previous marriage they hurry home after practice to make ready for the big family event of Christmas morning.

But as they pull up to their home to “Holly’s surprise she sees her son “Ben” who is back from rehab. Emotionally thrilled as any mother would be to see her son his sister “Ivy” and step father ‘Neel” are far more skeptical on why he is back at all. It becomes quickly apparent from their less than warm response “Ben’s” has had a past that was a great source of family tension from his addition to drugs. Still “Holly” is the eternal optimist and emotionally jubilant at having her entire family together for Christmas.

But "Holly' is not naive and realizes she needs to take steps in keeping the peace for the collective household by taking the guarded steps of hiding all of the prescription drugs and verbally making it clear to “Ben” that he must adhere to her “watching him like a hawk” while he is at home. And while “Holly’s actions are mostly as an expression of tough love for "Ben" there is still a deep seeded maternal fear on her part of him possibly relapsing that could very well be deadly this time.

REVIEW: “Ben is Back” is about how a family tries to stay together when it is fractured by an event. And while most people have some knowledge of someone or have experienced directly for themselves an event that tests the strength of a family through divorce, abuse, financial difficulties and infidelity, this film takes on the insidious uncontrollable event of a family member being addicted. But when it comes to drug abuse – drug addiction it is always different in the way of having both an elephant and a poltergeist in the room. Always potentially equally wrecking and frightening the family from the not knowing from one moment of a love one being a source of immense joy and then without warning a source of deep mourning through their death.

“Ben is Back” brilliant captures the universal devastating dynamic of how many families struggle through the persistent balancing of the “not knowing” while on one hand giving love and the other hand fearing unsuspecting death. Its a fabulous engrossing gripping portrayal of this very struggle through superb writing, directing and acting from Vance, Hedges, Newton and Robert’s. together they make this film pop with mesmerizing entertainment. But above them all is Julia Roberts’s performance as the loving mother “Holly” who makes this film one of the five best films I have seen for 2018.

Roberts gives a powerhouse and sensational performance that feels real every single frame with her eyes, tears and smiles. She becomes the metaphoric and emblematic feeling of what heart pounding riveting absorbing worry looks like in a family when a child is in distress. Roberts transforms that worry into something authentically amazing with a compelling and intelligent range of human emotions from displays of genuine love and intimacy to gut wrenching - heartbreaking angst and anguish to authentic in your face tough love. She projects her "Holly' as a persevering life force of infinite optimistic with unbridled fearlessness nor matter the obstacle. Its a commanding Oscar caliber effort of human determination and human will in her case of keeping her flawed son alive.

Underneath theses amazing performances was the fascinating manner in which Director Hedges used his brilliant skills in the visual direction of the story to illustrate for drug addicts how almost anything in everyday life from the smell of exhaust fumes, seeing an old acquaintance, seeing a packet of salt or even a flickering flame on top of a candle can be the one slight fragile trigger for an addict to relapse and overdosing again. Hedges also through his writing showcases Robert’s acting talents as the symbolic embodiment of that irreplaceable DNA strand in all Mother’s that makes them so uniquely rare for enduring love for the family they have given life to regardless of their successes or failures. 

In the end Director Hedges "Ben is Back" allows Robert's to encapsulates every Mother there has ever been, every Mother there is and every Mother there ever will be as the one who is willing to protect and to love her family to their very last breath.

Please, please try to see “Ben is Back”. Julia Roberts gives a phenomenal performance that you will not likely to forget.

4.00 Stars