Ben Is Back (2018)
19-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben's mother, Holly, is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe.
- Joseph P. Reidy
- John Silvestri
- Rachel Jaros
- Dianne Dreyer
- Peter Hedges
- Peter Hedges
Rating: 6.6/10 by 909 users
Alternative Title:
ბენის დაბრუნება - GE
O Retorno de Ben - BR
H epistrofi toy mpen - GR
H epistrofi tou mpen - GR
Regresa a mi - ES
Regresa a mi - US
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 43 minutes
Budget: $13,000,000
Revenue: $12,616,995
Plot Keyword: drug dealer, small town, drug addiction, criticism and blame, drug rehabilitation, church, family conflict, painful memories, temptation, older brother younger sister, family dog, return of son, worry, teenage son, blended family, painful truth, addiction recovery, mother son relationship, stolen dog, christmas eve, past history, making amends, hopeful, one day, mother's undying love
"Ben" (Lucas Hedges) arrives at his mother's home on Christmas eve and she is delighted. "Holly" (Julia Roberts) and her daughter "Ivy" (Kathryn Newton) know that he has a problem, though. He's a drug addict and has only recently managed to go for seven days without using. A Christmas carol service and an happy Christmas beckon for all if only he can stay sober but his erstwhile dealer has other plans and using the boy's dog as bait, entices him into one last delivery that has everyone racing around before something tragic happens. It's all rather bleak, this, with neither Hedges nor Roberts really having much to work with aside from the rather depressingly presented subject matter. Perhaps this will resonate more with those who have experienced some of the traumas addiction can cause, and this story certainly has an authentic (television) look to it, but there are plenty of better put together stories of recovery (or not) out there that reach out to the uninformed and unfamiliar in a more constructive fashion - and this just rather slotted in mid-table. I like Hedges, he has something natural about him - but here they are both rather mediocre in a rather mediocre melodrama that doesn't really develop the characters or the underlying threads of the story anywhere near enough.
