Review of Boy Erased (2018) by Greg C — 18 Nov 2018

It has Flea (an Aussie) in it! Aussie, Joel Edgerton's sophomore motion picture, Boy Erased, stars American Lucas Hedges alongside the Aussie Nicole Kidman as well as the Aussie Russell Crowe as Southern Baptists in a family drama involving conversion therapy.

The last time I saw Kidman was an awesome performance as a supportive mom in Lion 2016. She does pretty much the same thing here. Edgerton himself plays the "therapist" and is the most dynamic role, so that you despise his character.

Crowe is so good as the sometimes warm, sometimes distant father that I almost felt at home. Edgerton is proving himself to be a master of pacing. There is something lackluster visually when your American suburban backdrop is the Targets and Home Depots we all know too well.

This is a movie with some good lines and good moments. But alas the sum is not greater than its parts. The actors all do fine work. But the story construction (based on a memoir) is a little soft and lumpy.

We don't get a good cranked up argument like Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. We don't get the emotional release of that moment of acceptance of a father accepting his gay son. Our protagonist goes for a walk and is taunted by a bus stop billboard, but that moment doesn't flow in character development with the film's moments before or after it.

From 10 minutes in, I knew the path this movie was likely to take. I feel like our cultural acceptance has largely evolved past this story. A more satisfying watch in the genre is Love Simon from earlier in the year.

Side note: Not everybody can master the credible dad-bod that Crowe does.