A few too many on-the-nose needle drops make Beautiful Boy play like a schmaltz-infused music-video-cum-alarmist-anti-drug-PSA.
A deliberately offbeat characterization of mental illness, the film is ultimately a failed act of empathy.
The film ultimately succeeds as a convincing social plea, but fails as compelling cinema.
The slippery slope of civilization is already in place on The Wire and Simon is just out to document how each and every person survives.
