Honey Boy ★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewed by Max Minardi. Full review on Episode 153

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love Shia LaBeouf. There’s an intangible charismatic quality about him. He’s terrifically honest onscreen and in "Honey Boy" (his writing debut) it’s clear that his honesty extends into the writers room as well. His willingness to write and retell this incredibly powerful and traumatic story speaks volumes toward his creative vision and desire to reckon with the very public demons of his past- alcoholism, drugs, and rehab to name a few.

"Honey Boy" is the semi-biopic of Shia LaBeouf’s life and focuses on the troubled relationship he had with his father, an abusive (and kind of) recovering alcoholic. Though not directly named, our main character, called Otis, is a manifestation of a young LaBeouf and is played by both Noah Jupe and Lucas Hegdes at different points in life. With Young Otis, we endure the brunt of the damage done by his father (played by actual Shia LaBeouf) and most of our time is spent in a long-term motel where the two live while Otis is not shooting for television shows or movies. Hedges, on the other hand, spends his time in rehab learning to cope with the long-term damage left behind by his father and all those formative years.

"Honey Boy" opens with an incredibly intense montage portraying life for Lucas Hedges’ Otis. We bounce between action film sets, and heavy drinking, and emotional breakdowns so frequently that in just the few short minutes we’re steeped in the chaos of his daily life, we understand why what happens next, happens next. It’s during this sequence that the movie begins to establish its premise of trauma and PTSD in a way that doesn’t become totally clear until the movies final scenes. However, what is clear from the moment that Skee-Lo’s “I Wish” comes on, is that we are in for something of a wild ride. 

The directorial narrative debut for Alma Har’el, “Honey Boy” has a LOT of things it wants to say and almost too many ideas with which it attempts to say them. The film feels, at times likes it’s struggling to decide which direction it wants us to go- particularly when dealing with it’s feelings towards Otis’ Father. I found myself thinking that this movie wouldn't be able to stand alone without the “LaBeouf” factors, both narrative AND performative. Without those things, this becomes somewhat of a problematic film with regard to some of it’s auxiliary characters and perhaps, most importantly, the conclusion it reaches with respect to its mains. However, I realized very quickly that this story shouldn’t (and likely can’t) be divorced from it’s real-life counterparts. 

Despite some flaws on a “movie making” level, I gave “Honey Boy” a lot of leeway due to the sheer audacity of its subject matter and the authenticity with which it’s delivered. Regardless of my personal feelings by the end, this is a story that, for those telling it, was true and clearly cathartic. That goes a long way for me. I can’t wait to see this again.