Honey Boy

Name: Honey Boy
Genre: Drama
Released: November 8, 2019
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 73
Cast: Byron Bowers, Clifton Collins Jr., Craig Stark, Dorian Brown, FKA Twigs

2019

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 54 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 54 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Amazon Studios | Release Date: November 8, 2019 | Not Rated

Starring: Byron Bowers, Clifton Collins Jr., Craig Stark, Dorian Brown, FKA Twigs, Laura San Giacomo, Lucas Hedges, Maika Monroe, Mario Ponce, Martin Starr, Natasha Lyonne, Noah Jupe, Paulina Bugembe, Shia LaBeouf

Movie Facts:

Shia LaBeouf based his screenplay on his own experiences, and plays a version of his own father.

Summary: A child actor works reconcile with his hard-drinking, law-breaking father.

Director: Alma Har'el

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 94 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Dec 7, 2019

Honey Boy just tells us one story, with judgement and compassion, with an honesty that surprises and moves us. And it leaves it to us to decide if it was all worth it, if indeed the end justifies the means. You will never look at a child’s performance in a film or TV show the same way after this. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Nov 7, 2019

Before and after everything else, Honey Boy — James’s nickname for his son — is a movie worth seeing for its distinctive qualities, but it must also have been worth doing for its therapeutic effect. Filming well is the best revenge. Read full review

Gregory Ellwood

Feb 1, 2019

Honey Boy may center on the impressive portrayals of three talented actors, but it’s the woman behind the camera that makes it soar. You simply can’t wait to see what she does next. Read full review

Matthew Passantino

Feb 1, 2019

The beautiful surprise of Honey Boy is it never feels like LaBeouf revels in the chance to put the spotlight on himself. He wrote the film while in rehab and every moment of the movie feels like an artist in search of a desperately craved and needed catharsis. Read full review

Ann Hornaday

Nov 12, 2019

Well, surprise: Honey Boy, Shia LaBeouf’s startlingly forthright, cathartic and beautifully acted movie based on his confusing and chaotic life as a child actor, winds up demonstrating what can go right, when the right elements are in place. Read full review

Jon Frosch

Feb 1, 2019

Honey Boy is not a self-justifying cri de coeur or a prankish exercise in narcissism, but a sensitive, sincere portrait of a child actor's dysfunctional upbringing and its devastating fallout. Read full review

Rex Reed

Nov 9, 2019

Honey Boy is a dolorous example of an alarming trend in modern movies — the miraculous ability of an infinitesimal talent to raise money for an obnoxious, self-indulgent film about his own life designed to appeal to absolutely nobody except the arrogant subject himself. In this instance, the jerky centerpiece in love with himself to the detriment of everyone in the audience is Shia LaBeouf. Read full review

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User Reviews

crfo333

Nov 29, 2019

Honey Boy is a special movie, one that doesn't come along often. Shia LaBeouf's performance was incredible. Honey Boy is so moving.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

The3AcademySins

Nov 24, 2019

I found Honey Boy to be an incredibly transcending film. Calling it a movie almost doesn't do it justice. At times its a meditation. At times it a funeral dirge. At other points, its an exorcism. Its performance art, and its the most accessible performance art that Shia LaBeouf has createdI found Honey Boy to be an incredibly transcending film. Calling it a movie almost doesn't do it justice. At times its a meditation. At times it a funeral dirge. At other points, its an exorcism. Its performance art, and its the most accessible performance art that Shia LaBeouf has created to date.

Honey Boy is one of the most emotionally visceral experiences I have had in theaters this year. I think I felt every single emotion while watching this ultimately broken father and son relationship. Shia LaBeouf's performance as his own father is incredible, and every movement and line he delivers is incredibly specific and purposeful. If you're like me, and you know a lot about Shia's history and life, you will recognize a lot of the scenes from stories he has told about his childhood.

Lucas Hedges comes out of left field with a nearly-perfect take on adult Shia LaBeouf. Noah Jupe as the young Otis, as Shia LaBeouf's character is called in the movie, is heartbreakingly vulnerable. There is not a weak performance from anyone in the cast.

This is a beautiful, incredibly moving film. It's hard to watch the abuse and neglect at a lot of points, but every character is so well developed that its easy to even find empathy with the father character. This is a project that was incredibly important to everyone involved, and it shows.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Compi24

Dec 17, 2019

The keystone, nay, the crown jewel in modern society's long-standing obsession with the borderline mythic construct of what we all consider Shia LaBeouf to be. Devoted performance artist to the very end, psychologically unwell egomaniac, or an honest to God broken human being looking toThe keystone, nay, the crown jewel in modern society's long-standing obsession with the borderline mythic construct of what we all consider Shia LaBeouf to be. Devoted performance artist to the very end, psychologically unwell egomaniac, or an honest to God broken human being looking to figure himself out just like the rest of us -- whatever your opinion of the man is, "Honey Boy" will work as something of a companion piece to it. More importantly, though, it's a deeply upsetting and impactful portrayal of a bankrupt relationship between a father and his son, and the litany of morally perverse push/pull mechanisms layered therein, featuring a revelatory, career-best performance from the true-to-life subject at the center of everything -- LaBeouf himself. Taking on the role of the complex and layered quasi-tormentor that inflicted so much intentional and unintentional damage upon him throughout his own childhood, some may call this the ultimate act of self-indulgence on the part of LaBeouf. I simply see it as someone desperately trying to sort through their past, so as to construct some semblance of a better future. Add in some stark camerawork and imagery from narrative filmmaking newcomer Alma Har'el and you have one of the year's most metaphysically gratifying, emotionally gripping character studies. To be quite honest, I'd even venture to call it a masterpiece.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

JordanLayton

Apr 28, 2020

Shia LaBeouf plays his own father in this clearly therapeutic film for him about his troubled childhood. I had a hard time fully enjoying this film on its own merits because of the fact that Shia wrote and starred in it as his own father. That fact stayed in the back of my head for much ofShia LaBeouf plays his own father in this clearly therapeutic film for him about his troubled childhood. I had a hard time fully enjoying this film on its own merits because of the fact that Shia wrote and starred in it as his own father. That fact stayed in the back of my head for much of the film and while it enhanced some scenes, I feel like it retracted from the film overall. It's hard to describe, but I got the slight feeling that Shia wrote this film as an explanation or perhaps even an excuse for his behavior. I know how unfair that is to him and that I should probably give him the benefit of the doubt that this was written purely to tell his story and for his own artistic fulfillment, but once that thought wormed itself into my head, certain scenes started to take another light. Regarding purely the film without any background, this is a competently made film with clear thought put into shot composition, story structure, and character portrayal of real people. Shia, Lucas Hedges, and the child actor, Noah Jupe, all gave great performances. Jupe in particular was a welcome surprise, rising above other child stars (ironically, something his character did as well).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

netflic

Nov 11, 2019

This movie is a self-serving experiment when an actor and a script writer Shia Labeouf is court-marshaled into a rehab and writes a script about his own childhood and his abusive father. In his script Shia has a name of Otis who is played by Oscar-nominated Lucas Hedges when Otis is in hisThis movie is a self-serving experiment when an actor and a script writer Shia Labeouf is court-marshaled into a rehab and writes a script about his own childhood and his abusive father. In his script Shia has a name of Otis who is played by Oscar-nominated Lucas Hedges when Otis is in his twenties and a rising star Noah Jupe who plays 12-year old Otis. The interesting part is that Shia plays his own father, ex-con, ex-rodeo clown, ex-sex offender and many other exes. I assume it must be therapeutic for him.

I enjoyed Noah's performance but that was the only part of the movie that I really liked. The script was way too twisted from fragments of the rehab's present, flashes from childhood years and recent past. I have a feeling that Shia inherited self-pity from his father.
I am glad that he managed to make it after all these years with a jerk of a father. Overall the movie did not make a great impression on me.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

JumpCut_Online

Dec 4, 2019

Honey Boy is guided by LaBeouf’s cathartic script and humanized by Jupe’s magnificent, touching performance and the way he brings nuance and heart to this role of a 12-year-old asking for the unspoken affection of his father. LaBeouf’s vision of his pain and healing is indispensable, quietlyHoney Boy is guided by LaBeouf’s cathartic script and humanized by Jupe’s magnificent, touching performance and the way he brings nuance and heart to this role of a 12-year-old asking for the unspoken affection of his father. LaBeouf’s vision of his pain and healing is indispensable, quietly crafted through the moments when both Otis and his father are at odds. It’s this heartbreaking dynamic which renders it raw. Again, delicate to revisit, but its mere existence feels like a necessary gift to film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Awais007

Dec 8, 2019

I don't like this movie that's it. Story is normal. You can watch this movie if watched all previous movies.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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