Boy Erased (2018)
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Boy Erased Movie Review
Boy Erased is a 2018 biographical drama film directed by Joel Edgerton and starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. It’s a solid film which could have been better.
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“I’m gay, and I’m your son.
And neither of those things are going to change.
Okay? So let’s deal with that!“
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It follows a boy who is sent to gay conversation therapy by his Baptist parents. The movie is based on a memoir and is basically autobiographical which gives it more weight. However, it stumbles upon the finish line because it simply doesn’t have enough truly powerful sequences to make it stand out from the crowd. ‘The Miseducation of Cameron Post’ was ultimately better.
The film is competently made throughout, but a bit too restrained and although I did not want inspirational speeches and such, I still wanted more urgency in its tone and more psychological scenes. That simply did not happen. The only scenes that held genuine weight were the scene between his father and mother towards the end, but the movie is otherwise lacking in emotions, especially when it comes to the gay dating side of things as we only get one rape which was a necessary, solid scene, but I wanted more romance of friendship in the center.
Lucas Hedges was very strong in a good, inspirational role. He’s always good and continues to be a bright young talent. Russell Crowe has rarely been this good recently and of course Nicole Kidman is the highlight as she simply excels in these types of roles, as evidenced by her turn in ‘Lion’ two years prior.
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Boy Erased is well paced and engaging throughout, but again not particularly riveting and never at all urgent or too dark or emotionally power. It lacks the raw qualities that I expect from this type of a story. The acting is strong, but the direction from Joel Edgerton could have been better, though he was good in the role of Sykes. The dialogue is pretty good and some speeches and conversations are powerful, but again I wanted more of it as those slower scenes weren’t as strong with a few exceptions here and there. Overall, it’s a missed opportunity for greatness.
Boy Erased is so well acted by Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe and especially Nicole Kidman. All of them deliver strong performances. It’s also engaging, at times moving and with a couple of resonant, powerful scenes here and there. But it’s a missed opportunity for greatness owing to its lack of more dialogue, urgency and raw emotion in its tone with the overall impact thus being blunted.
