Review: Honey Boy

Honey Boy, directed by Alma Har’el, tells the tale of Otis Lort (Lucas Hedges), a former child star who gets himself into constant trouble with the law. But after a nasty DUI crash, Otis gets arrested and sent to rehab, where the therapists there get Otis to write and recollect about his childhood growing up with his motivating but abusive father James (Shia LaBeouf).

This is not only the first feature film from director Alma Har’el, who mainly directed music videos and commercials in the past, but it’s also a film written by Shia LaBeouf while he was in rehab. The film is loosely based on LaBeouf’s own relationship with his father growing up, and evidently there wasn’t much reason for this film to exist outside of it being cathartic for the actor, and that’s all this film is. Honey Boy despite its best intentions seems like a film made only as an excuse for LaBeouf to vent out some past trauma.

The film doesn’t have much of an overarching story; this was more a collection of scenes than a cohesive film. Things happen in the film and we’re suppose to react a certain way to them. Har’el’s direction was serviceable, the cinematography was fine, the editing was fine, the soundtrack was fine, nothing in this film really stood out outside of the performances. Shia LaBeouf gives a pretty fantastic performance as his own father, Lucas Hedges was also pretty good as mid-2000’s Shia, and Noah Jupe was a charm to watch.

Overall there’s not much else to say about this film. This was a very personal film for LaBeouf and whether we like it or not is entirely irrelevant to him. If you’re a fan of Labeouf and this sounds interesting to you then by all means go ahead and check it out. Personally I prefer a film that has more of a reason to exist outside of it being therapeutic for the writer making it, but I’ll give credit where it’s due. It’s a good effort, but it’s not exactly my cup of tea.

Final Verdict: 5/10