Beautiful Boy (2018)

Pretty Timothée Chalamet has graced the silver screen with his golden looks in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014); Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name (2017); Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019); Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch (2021); and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). Yet none of these movies telegraph his onscreen assets with a title as apt as Beautiful Boy (2018). Not to be confused with the Italian horror flick Beautiful People (2014), this American pic is based on two books: David Sheff’s “Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction” (2008) and Nic Sheff’s “Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines” (2008). As you can see, the film reflects a real family and the challenges they face with a drugs. As Nic (Chalamet) addresses addiction, recovery, relapse and more, his dad David (Steve Carrell) supports him through the difficult journey. Their story also includes input from Dr. Brown (Timothy Hutton), David’s wife Karen (Maura Tierney), Nic’s mother Vicki (Amy Ryan) and his girlfriend Julia (Stefanie Scott). Under the direction of Felix Groeningen, the R rated film shows a topless Timothée sitting on the sofa in his undies. After the movie’s release, Mr. Chalamet received nominations for his performance from the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild. Although his portrayal reveals vulnerability, it doesn’t expose much skin. Perhaps that’s why this motion picture was a disappointment at the box office and with those of us wanting to see more of Tim!