Teenager Nicolas Sheff (Academy Award nominee Timothée Chalamet) seems to have it all -- good grades, editor of the school newspaper, actor, artist and athlete. When Nic's addiction to meth threatens to destroy him, his desperate father (Academy Award nominee Steve Carell) does whatever he can to save his son and his family. From the Oscar-winning producers of Moonlight and 12 Years a Slave, Beautiful Boy is a deeply affecting and powerful true story of a father fighting to save his teenage son from drug addiction.
A father and son struggle through a volatile relationship strained by the son's severe drug addiction. The dialogue captures a cycle of confession, relapse, financial manipulation, and emotional conflict, highlighting the father's desperate attempts to help and the son's defensive, erratic behavior.
A couple of weeks ago you told me that you had only done crystal meth once.
And the story has to be bigger than that, right?
There's more to it.
Yeah, David.
We need to know.
I think I always liked it.
What?
Anything pot, alcohol, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD.
And you've been doing all of that for, what, years?
A couple years, yeah.
And crystal meth?
Just a couple months.
Why?
I don't know.
When I tried it I felt...
I felt better than I ever had, so...
I just kept on doing it.
I was worried that you were smoking too much pot.
Meanwhile, you're out doing every drug on the planet?
And hiding it and lying?
Why?
I don't know.
Why, Nick? Tell me why.
I don't know.
I thought we were close. I thought we were closer than most fathers and sons.
Man, I feel like you're always disappointing me. You're disappointing I didn't go to college.
Can you blame me?
Just not too long ago you were reading and you were writing and you were on the water polo team.
And look at us now.
This isn't us. This is not who we are.
Stop.
Dad, I'm really sorry about everything.
Dad, I'm...
I'm really sorry, Dad.
Nick, what you have...
You're gonna find it again.
You're gonna get it back.
So this is a poem by Charles Bukowski.
This man saved my life multiple times.
I changed jobs and cities.
I hated holidays, babies, history, newspapers, museums, grandmothers, marriage, movies, spiders, garbage men, English accents, Spain,
France, Italy, walnuts, and color orange.
Algebra angered me.
Opera sickened me.
Charlie Chaplin was a fake and flowers were for pansies.
Jasper's savings disappeared.
What?
Did you take his $8?
What?
Well, it disappeared and somebody has to have done it.
Alright, so it's me.
This is ******* ridiculous.
Are you using again?
Am I using again? No.
Are you high right now?
What the ****?
No. **** you.
**** you? Don't talk to me that way.
Are you high right now?
No.
You're not using right now?
Are you using?
No, Dad. I'm not ******* high right now.
Okay.
Listen, it was a gamble to send you to college. Everybody supported it.
I'm glad that you went.
Relapse is a part of...
Relapse is part of recovery.
So go do it again.
I better leave.
Hey.
Just...
Where are you going to go?
You can't just leave.
It's ridiculous. Come on.
Can you talk to us?
I just want to talk to you.
Why don't you try to help us understand?
Just let us help you.
I don't want your ******* help. Don't you understand that?
Jesus Christ, what the **** is wrong with you?
What the hell is wrong with you?
What the hell is wrong with you people?
You ******* suffocate me.
It's us? We're the problem?
No. You know what? You're the one who's doing it.
You're the one who's causing it.
And you're the only one who can stop it.
------- solve it.
I'm going to try some Klingon.
Ready?
Klock. Klock. Klock.
Do you know what I said?
Klock. Klock. Klock.
That's it.
That's exactly what I said.
Can I have a Klock. Klock. Klock?
All right. If you ask me in Klingon,
maybe I'll get you a Klock.
Klock.
Do you need it all?
So how you doing?
I'm doing great. I'm just, um...
Just doing what needs to be done.
What does that mean?
Just being responsible for myself, and...
I'm on my own, you know, so...
We got five days now.
I feel like I'm doing well, but I just need, um...
I just need a few hundred bucks, so...
Nick, I can't give you any money.
Okay.
It's just a few hundred bucks. I just need, um...
I just need to get on one good New York.
New York?
Yeah.
I need to get out of San Francisco. There's too many...
Always ******* bad vibes here, all the time.
Yeah, I just need a few hundred bucks.
Why don't we just have lunch and talk?
We can do that, right?
Hmm.
How's Karen and, uh...
And the kids?
Okay.
They asked about you.
It's their step-up next week, and...
I know they'd love to see you.
Hey, you're, uh...
You're guilt-tripping me, all right?
No, I'm just saying that...
I feel horrible about myself.
I know they want you to be there.
That's all.
I'm sorry.
Dad, um...
I just need some ******* money, all right?
So, please just give me some ******* money.
And then what? Where does this end?
This is...
I gotta see this one through.
This is kind of working out for me right now.
I got five days, so...
It doesn't look like it's working out, Nick.
Oh, it doesn't look like it's working out?
So what, the therapy, huh?
You can come home.
No, that wouldn't be...
Make it work, please.
Nick.
Please.
I've been doing some research.
You've been doing ******* research?
You gotta be kidding me, Dad.
You think that you have this under control.
Mm-hmm.
And I understand how scared you are.
I understand why I do things.
It doesn't make me any different, all right?
I'm attracted to craziness.
And you're just embarrassed because I was like...
You know, I was like this amazing thing,
like your special creation or something,
and you don't like who I am now.
Yeah?
Who are you, Nick?
This is me, Dad.
Here, this is who I am.
You don't like what you see?
You know, the more I think about it,
Mom should've got in custody.
Because you always gotta be ******* controlling everything all the time.
You're allowed to be mad at me, Nick.
I made mistakes.
I understand that.
I wish that I hadn't, but I did.
But God, what you're saying right now doesn't make any sense.
You were doing this right.
You're ******* controlling me right now.
It is not you, Nick.
It is the drugs talking.
What does it even ******* mean?
Psychological terror.
It's what addicts do.
What the **** are you doing right now, huh?
What is this?
What are you doing, huh?
I don't want it to go like this.
All right.
I should go, Dad.
Let me book you a room at a hotel for a couple of nights.
Why don't we just go get some food?
Let me say goodbye at least.
Bye, Dad.