Ben completes the mission and gets Ponce back, but Clayton also gives him some drugs in return. Ben and Mal is a romantic pairing, Ben is the son of Belle and Beast, and Mal is the daughter of Maleficent and Hades.. He has a secret. Pockets. This is humiliating. No, this is love. Hollys oblivious. Free to go. You didnt check my shoes. Then Holly becomes concerned. Hedges son, Lucaswho has put together a string of strong work in just the past couple of years between Manchester By the Sea, Lady Bird, Boy Erased and mid90sstars as the title character, a charismatic young man who radiates a combination of enthusiasm and understandable unease. We see snippets of a sleepy town, zooming into a Christmas choir. If anyone can solve Bens problems can bring Ben back to the sweet, smart, decent boy he used to be its surely his mom. Add a gift receipt for easy returns. Regardless, Hedges plants all kinds of details that are meant to pay off later but fail to deliver any real impact. A woman hands her son a cup and tells him to provide a urine sample for drug testing; she looks away and tells him that she wont look at his privates (we see him from the back with nothing seen or heard). How does any addict? 10. #everycopycounts support vendors this winter. Subscribe to learn more about the movies you love! While Dolly finds the cell phone, there is no whereabouts of Ben. She agrees lets him stay for 24 hours only if he does not leave her sight. He claims his sponsor thought it was a good idea for him to return home, to show how good Im doing. He then recounts a story of farts in a car that Holly thinks is hilarious. Located at 129 Ramapo Road, the affordable diner attracts local crowds through its sheer cooking prowess and an uncomplicated menu. 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. A woman speaks to her son sternly and gives him rules for remaining home for 24 hours before returning to a rehab facility. It is hard to believe anything Ben says when he arrives or opens his mouth. Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. In this all new movie we find Morticia . So when the White House dodged the issue this week, I knew I had to talk about it. 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. And then theres Julia Roberts. Putin's forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting . Ben is jumpy, shaky, perhaps not ready for this yet. 19-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. 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. A young man speeds away from a gas station leaving his mother inside alone and with no ride. One of the cruelties of addiction is the way it strips away individuality, making all addicts stories the same. His sister and stepfather are, however, deeply. The maternal side of Holly tells Ivy and Ben that he may stay for Christmas before going back to rehab, but-. Some filming also took place in New City, a hamlet in the Clarkstown municipality. The journey of Ben and Dolly to find the family canine, Ponce, begins at the house of Mr. Richmond, the history teacher. And hes with his mother Holly, played by Julia Roberts. | profanity glossary |. 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. Oh My God, God, Jesus, Heaven Help You, Holy [scatological term deleted]). This movie chronicles 24 hours in the life of a family after the oldest son comes home from rehab one Christmas eve. The Bottom Line Nerve-racking but not bleak or without humor. In Wicked World, the two are shown to flirt, with Mal often complimenting on how cute Ben is and being impressed when he . Support our vendors to earn as much as they can and give them a fighting chance this Winter. 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. [12], According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 221 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. He has a secret. Pockets. This is humiliating. No, this is love. Hollys oblivious. Free to go. You didnt check my shoes. Then Holly becomes concerned. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address. And it works, mostly. On the contrary, what is so moving and effective about Robertss work here is her shrewd subversion of her long-established persona. "ben is back" is filled with harshly poignant scenes, e.g., when holly goes cold at the very sight of the doctor who prescribed heavy doses of painkillers for ben when her son was 14, or when holly has a harrowing encounter with a childhood friend of ben's who has been ravaged by addiction and cries out, "i changed your diapers," and wonders how The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Hedges and Roberts, but grossed just $12 million against its $13 million budget. Will he be dead on the floor with a needle sticking out of his arm? And then she checks him because she has concerns. Her best moments have Holly making some questionable decisions, thoughher heart is in the right place. The filmmaker previously made the enjoyable and piquant holiday-themed comedy-drama, Pieces of April, about a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving. Ben demands Holly goes home, but she refuses. Peter Hedges narrates a scene from his film featuring Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts. Image Credit: Mark Schafer/BBP West BIB, LLC, Ben Burns, an athlete dealing with opioid addiction. Following Claytons order, Ben agrees to do the job, sticking several belts of drugs onto his body. The scale and depth of the horror are beyond anything she had imagined. Ben Is Back NYT Critic's Pick Directed by Peter Hedges Drama R 1h 43m By A.O. 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 Therefore, the chances are that the guy who read the note called Dolly to inform Ponces location. From Spider, Dolly knows about the hideout in exchange for the drugs Dolly retrieved from Ben at the shopping mall. 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? 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? they are pretty mundane in a broken, contemporary world. But the performances remain uniformly strong and hold the story together, even as it threatens to spin out of control. A woman pounds on a fitting room door and yells obscenities at her son behind the door before they are asked to leave the store. Ivy, however, is rightly suspicious of this prodigal son, and says Holly is trying too hard. A man slams a passenger car window and pounds on the hood of the car as a woman and her son speed away. As the winter darkness descends, mother and son enter an inferno of grieving parents, sexual predators, ruthless dealers and hollowed-out users. It sure feels like it. He progresses to leave Ponce in the car, heading to a drug den to die from the guilt. Holly follows in her car, finding Ben in a nearby neighborhood. Ben Is Back: Trailer 1 2:25 Added: October 11, 2018. If the thought has indeed crossed your mind, allow us to enlighten you. Another place where the crew set up a shoot was a cemetery in Haverstraw, where a heated fight between Ben and Holly takes place. 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.. And thats especially clear when he runs into people from his past. Ben is back! Theyve just come from a 12-step meeting. Ben and Holly talk and talk trying to gain understanding of the situation. But Ben leaves with Dollys car, which gets Dolly worried. Just go to our search page or use the search bar, with or without a keyword, from the top navigation menu. And Ben has a secret. Reports suggested that a few sequences in the film may have been lensed along Beach Avenue and Linden Avenue as well. His relationship with Julia Roberts as his mother, Holly, provides the film with its vivid heart. Newton is quite good, too, as the familys voice of reason. Ben has something hes not saying. Hedgess film may speak truths about issues of addiction and recovery, and the hell that addicts put their families through, but it cudgels viewers by having the characters talk about rigorous honesty" and truth as they obviously and ironically lie and connive. And the later scenes reveal that Ben has taken the drug nonetheless. One problem with Ben Is Back is that it cannot find the right tone. Writer-director Peter Hedges depicts this phenomenon with intimacy and empathy in Ben Is Back, about a teenage opioid addict who leaves rehab for 24 hourssupposedly with the encouragement of his sponsorto visit his family on Christmas Eve. After looking for Ben all night, Holly is overwrought and goes to a police station. Symmetry opens the film. (3,433) 6.7 1 h 43 min 2018 X-Ray HDR UHD R. Julia Roberts delivers a riveting performance as a mother swept into a race against time after her troubled 19-year-old son (Lucas Hedges) returns home for Christmasand suddenly disappears. A young man and his mother argue in several scenes; the young man shoves his mother during one argument trying to get her to leave him. Gary M. Kramer is a writer and film critic based in Philadelphia. Ben Burns: I love five people and Ponce is two of them. The production unit lensed several exterior scenes along Lake Avenue and Nepperhan Avenue, Central Park Avenue, and Mildred Street. Later still, Dolly and Ben go garment shopping, and seeing Ben in possession of the drug, the guards throw them out of the mall. I thought you were dead, one guy at the mall says off-handedly. Later, Ben and Dolly head to a community session, and Ben meets another addict who used to score from him. This is especially true regarding a subplot about a young woman who died as a result of Ben getting her hooked on drugs. The movie takes place over one day and a long night, so there's more discussed about Ben's history of drug use than actually seen. Theres this dangerous something coursing through him. But Anastasia can be easily confused, I guess, so asks for a clear roadmap. how to delete arbitersports account. The conflict is not his alone. But this is one of those rare Hollywood movies that keeps you guessing, where you dont see the ending coming 20 minutes in. Parents need to know that Ben Is Back is a drama that centers on the United States' opioid epidemic. Holly uses the kit and desperately tries to revive him, while sobbing for him to "come back" to her. A young man tells another young man, "I thought you were dead." A woman walks alone in a dark alley and finds her son's phone in a garbage dumpster. Ben's wary mother Holly Burns (Roberts) welcomes her beloved son's return, but soon learns he is still very much in harm's way. Her anger at Ben dragging her (and her family) into his mess comes and goes. Ben Is Back Review: A Mother and Son Face the Horrors of Addiction, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/movies/ben-is-back-review.html. As for whether there are sparks between Rodriguez and Shookus, a representative for the baseball star told Page Six "there is absolutely zero there," adding: "They've been friends for 15 years." Nevertheless, the scene falls flat and feels preachy. - 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 packet of powder), and a young man says that he got a young woman hooked. And Julias switch from happy mother shopping with her son to concerned and panicked mother is Mom, it was a joke. so powerful. Excuse me can I get a key to this door, please? This scene is a microcosm for the film that in Holly, at the beginning, you see the hope she has that this is going to be a fun thing. SPOILERS AHEAD. Follow him on Twitter. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. He leaves Ponce in the car with a note asking whoever finds it to call his mom. Writer/director Peter Hedges asks viewers and its main characters to spend an uncomfortable 24-hours together on Christmas Eve. Ben concocts that he took the drug from the girl at the meeting, but he later comes clean that he found the bit in the attic room. Gary M . Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements. But shes not paying full attention. Im Peter Hedges, writer and director of Ben Is Back. Ben Burns, played by Lucas Hedges, comes home unexpectedly on Christmas Eve Day. Holly has two kids with her second husband (Courtney B. Vance) in addition to Ben and his younger sister, Ivy (Kathryn Newton), from her first. At other times she wonders if her sons addiction is her fault. 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. and Ben's already shaky confidence takes a major hit. In the nocturnal adventure, Ben visits the places of guilt to find a resolution for the present discontent. Superheroes! However, with some help from Ben (he leaves Dollys phone number in the note outside the car), Dolly finds the vehicle parked by a house. Ben Is Back was filmed in the state of New York, particularly in Rockland County and Westchester County. The elder Hedges needs to make amends. Now, you may wonder where the film was shot. The best thing that can be said about this film is that Hedges isnt going for warm and fuzzy feelings. Holly Burns returns from church on Christmas Eve to find her son Ben in the driveway; he has been in rehab for prescription drug addiction for some months, and says his sponsor said a trip home would be good for him. While there, she receives a call from a man who found Ponce, driving out to retrieve him. Photograph: Doane Gregory/AP These colors don't run. The disease of addiction can afflict anyone, anywhere, Hedges reminds us, just as Beautiful Boy did earlier this year. That evening, the family returns home from church to find that someone has broken into their home and taken Ponce. A drug addicted teenage boy shows up unexpectedly at his family's home on Christmas Eve. Shes going to get clothes for him. After pressure from her husband, she insists she will stick to Ben for the next 24 hours. All of which leaves Bens mother, Holly (Julia Roberts), in an agonizing position. Scott Dec. 5, 2018 When the title character shows up early in "Ben Is Back" just before Christmas, at his. And Julias switch from happy mother shopping with her son to concerned and panicked mother is Mom, it was a joke. so powerful. Excuse me can I get a key to this door, please? This scene is a microcosm for the film that in Holly, at the beginning, you see the hope she has that this is going to be a fun thing. Hedges is as excellent as he was in "Manchester By the Sea," but it's fair to say the movie belongs to Roberts. [Read our critics top 10 films of the year.]. 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. Bens sister, Ivy (Kathryn Newton), wants him gone. Mom is too blinded by her love of her son to notice how bad he is. Bens much younger half-siblings (Mia Fowler and Jakari Fraser) and the family dog, for their part, adore him unreservedly. 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