Ben Is Back | |
---|---|
Directed by | Peter Hedges |
Written by | Peter Hedges |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Stuart Dryburgh |
Edited by | Ian Blume |
Music by | Dickon Hinchliffe |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $13 million [2] |
Box office | $12.6 million [3] [4] |
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. The plot follows a mother who tries to help her addict son after he returns home from rehab.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released on December 7, 2018, by LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions, and Lionsgate. 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.
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. Happy to see him but Holly is also wary, as she does not want his instability to affect the other children. She agrees lets him stay for 24 hours only if he does not leave her sight.
While holiday shopping at the mall, Holly runs into Ben's former doctor, now an old man with dementia. She scolds him for getting her son hooked on painkillers after a snowboarding accident when Ben was younger. Ben sees his childhood friend, Spencer, also a drug addict. He tells Holly he needs to go to a support group meeting, where he later shares the story of how he almost overdosed, but was saved by his mom and the family dog, Ponce.
Holly finds drugs on Ben and he claims a girl at the meeting gave them to him. Furious, she takes him to the cemetery, asking him where he would like to be buried. That evening, the family returns home from church to find that someone has broken into their home and taken Ponce.
Realizing it is to do with him, Ben leaves the house to find him. Holly follows in her car, finding Ben in a nearby neighborhood. He blames himself for someone attempting to hurt his family. They search for Ponce together to no avail.
While eating at a diner, Ben tells Holly that he got a local girl, Maggie, hooked on drugs and is responsible for her death. Spencer shows up and, after a tussle, he confirms that Clayton, a drug dealer he used to work for, took Ponce. Ben demands Holly goes home, but she refuses.
Telling her she does not know the real "him," Ben reveals that his sponsor told him not to return home and that he did not get the drugs Holly found from a girl at the support group but rather hidden in the attic above his younger siblings' bedroom. Leaving Holly stranded at a gas station, he goes to meet Clayton. Ben tries to buy his dog back, but Clayton says Ben must do a drug run for him.
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. She tracks down Spencer, giving him drugs she had confiscated from Ben earlier, in exchange for him telling her where he might be.
Ben completes the mission and gets Ponce back, but Clayton also gives him some drugs in return. Driving out to an abandoned barn, he parks on the side of the road. He leaves Ponce in the car with a note asking whoever finds it to call his mom.
After looking for Ben all night, Holly is overwrought and goes to a police station. While there, she receives a call from a man who found Ponce, driving out to retrieve him. Holly follows Ponce to the barn where she finds Ben unconscious, having taken the drugs from Clayton. Holly uses the kit and desperately tries to revive him, while sobbing for him to "come back" to her. After a few minutes, Ben takes a breath.
The project was announced in October 2017, with Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts set to star. [5] In November, Kathryn Newton was cast as the titular Ben's sister Ivy, [6] and Alexandra Park joined as an addict Ben meets during an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. [7] Filming began on December 5, with Courtney B. Vance joining the cast as Ben's stepfather. [8] Filming took place in Yonkers, New City, Sloatsburg, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Garnerville, and Haverstraw, New York. [9]
In July 2018, LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate acquired distribution rights to the film, which they released on December 7, 2018. [10] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018. [11]
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. The website's critics consensus reads, "Refreshingly understated, Ben Is Back subverts family drama stereotypes - and provides a forum for terrific performances from Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts." [12] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [13]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards | 2019 | Best Actress | Julia Roberts | Nominated | |
Best Screenwriter | Peter Hedges | Nominated | |||
Best Film -Intergenerational | Nominated | ||||
Beijing Film Festival | 2019 | Best Film | Peter Hedges | Nominated | |
Central Ohio Film Critics Association | 2019 | Actor of the Year | Lucas Hedges | Nominated | |
CinEuphoria Awards | 2019 | Best Actress - International Competition | Julia Roberts | Nominated | |
Best Actor - International Competition | Lucas Hedges | Nominated | |||
German Dubbing Awards | 2020 | Best Drama | Nominated | ||
Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards | December 7, 2018 | Best Performance by an Actor 23 and Under | Lucas Hedges | Won | |
Best Independent Film | Nominated | ||||
North Carolina Film Critics Association | January 3, 2020 | Tar Heel Award | Lucas Hedges | Won |
Pretty Woman is a 1990 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, from a screenplay by J. F. Lawton. The film stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and features Héctor Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, Laura San Giacomo, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. The film's story centers on Hollywood escort Vivian Ward and wealthy businessman Edward Lewis. Vivian is hired to be Edward's escort for several business and social functions, and their relationship develops during her week-long stay with him. The film's title Pretty Woman is based on the 1964 song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison. The original screenplay was titled “3,000,” and was written by then-struggling screenwriter J. F. Lawton.
Rhona Natasha Mitra is a British actress.
Courtney Bernard Vance is an American actor. He started his career on stage before moving to film and television. Vance has received various accolades, including a Tony Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Peter Simpson Hedges is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, film director and film producer.
August: Osage County is a 2013 American tragicomedy film directed by John Wells. It was written by Tracy Letts and based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2007 play of the same name. It is produced by George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Jean Doumanian, and Steve Traxler.
Girl Most Likely is a 2012 American comedy film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Based on a screenplay by Michelle Morgan, the film stars Kristen Wiig as a playwright who stages a suicide in an attempt to win back her ex, only to wind up in the custody of her gambling-addict mother, played by Annette Bening. Matt Dillon, Christopher Fitzgerald, Natasha Lyonne, and Darren Criss co-star.
Lucas Hedges is an American actor. A son of filmmaker Peter Hedges, he studied theater at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Hedges began his acting career with a supporting role in Wes Anderson's comedy-drama Moonrise Kingdom (2012). He had his breakthrough in 2016 playing a sardonic teenager in Kenneth Lonergan's drama Manchester by the Sea, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Hedges then starred as an aggressive youth in an off-Broadway production of Yen and had supporting roles in the coming-of-age film Lady Bird and the drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2017.
Julia Roberts is an American actress and producer who made her debut in the 1987 direct-to-video feature Firehouse. She had her breakthrough the following year by starring in the coming-of-age film Mystic Pizza (1988). For her supporting role in the comedy-drama Steel Magnolias (1989), she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Roberts' next role was opposite Richard Gere in the highly successful romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. In 1991, she appeared in the psychological thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, and played Tinker Bell in the Steven Spielberg-directed fantasy adventure Hook. Two years later, Roberts starred in the legal thriller The Pelican Brief, an adaptation of the John Grisham novel of the same name. During the late 1990s, she played the lead in the romantic comedies My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and Runaway Bride (1999).
Waves is a 2019 American psychological drama film written, produced and directed by Trey Edward Shults. Along with Shults, it was produced by Kevin Turen and James Wilson. It stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Lucas Hedges, Alexa Demie, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Sterling K. Brown. It traces the emotional journey of a suburban American family as they navigate love, forgiveness and coming together in the wake of a tragic loss.
Maniac is an American black psychological comedy drama television miniseries that premiered on Netflix on September 21, 2018, after being announced in 2016. Patrick Somerville created the series and Cary Joji Fukunaga directed, basing it very loosely on the 2015 Norwegian television series of the same name while drawing inspiration from many more famous films. The 10-episode series stars Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Justin Theroux, Sonoya Mizuno, Gabriel Byrne, and Sally Field. The plot follows two strangers who connect during a mind-bending pharmaceutical trial set in a retro-future New York City.
Wonder is a 2017 American coming-of-age family drama film directed by Stephen Chbosky, who co-wrote the screenplay with Steven Conrad and Jack Thorne. It is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by R. J. Palacio and stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Mandy Patinkin, and Daveed Diggs.
"Pieces of a Broken Mirror" is the twelfth episode and midseason premiere of the fourth season and 78th episode overall from the Fox series Gotham. The show is itself based on the characters created by DC Comics set in the Batman mythology. The episode was written by executive producer Danny Cannon and directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper. It was first broadcast on March 1, 2018.
Manifest is an American supernatural drama television series created by Jeff Rake that premiered on September 24, 2018, on NBC. It centers on the passengers and crew of a commercial airliner who suddenly reappear after being presumed dead for five and a half years. It stars Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis, J. R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Jack Messina, Parveen Kaur, Matt Long, Holly Taylor, Daryl Edwards, and Ty Doran.
Honey Boy is a 2019 American drama film directed by Alma Har'el with a screenplay by Shia LaBeouf, loosely based on his childhood and his relationship with his father. The film stars LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe and FKA twigs.
Buffaloed is a 2019 American crime comedy drama film directed by Tanya Wexler and written by Brian Sacca. It stars Zoey Deutch as a paroled convict who, in an effort to escape her hometown of Buffalo, New York, cons and hustles for money and becomes a debt collector, while battling debt herself. Judy Greer, Jermaine Fowler, Noah Reid, and Jai Courtney also appear in supporting roles.
Big Time Adolescence is a 2019 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Jason Orley, in his directorial debut. It stars Pete Davidson, Griffin Gluck, Emily Arlook, Colson Baker, Sydney Sweeney and Jon Cryer.
Uncorked is a 2020 American drama film, written and directed by Prentice Penny. It stars Mamoudou Athie, Courtney B. Vance, Niecy Nash, Matt McGorry, Sasha Compère, Gil Ozeri, Kelly Jenrette, Bernard David Jones, Melisia Lomax and Meera Rohit Kumbhani.
Bradford Simpson is an American film and television producer and partner at Los Angeles-based film studio Color Force.
The Photograph is a 2020 American romantic drama film written and directed by Stella Meghie. It follows the estranged daughter of a famous photographer who falls in love with the journalist who is investigating her late mother's life. Chelsea Peretti, Lil Rel Howery and Courtney B. Vance also star.