Ben Is Back

For all its good intentions, Ben Is Back is at most a satisfactory watch, but a remarkable showcase for both Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts.

A gripping entertainment that gets across worthwhile truths about contemporary strains of an ancient disease.

When Julia Roberts is good, she's really good.

The astonishing chemistry makes you wonder how long Julia Roberts had secretly been Lucas Hedges' mother without telling anyone.

The material feels more like a play than a film, its drama shrunk down into a single, digestible day, but it's affecting in its muted seriousness.

This is one of those rare Hollywood movies that keeps you guessing, where you don't see the ending coming 20 minutes in.

Even if Ben is Back tries a little too hard to ramp up the stakes, the fact remains that Hedges and Roberts’ performances make for an incredibly powerful on-screen relationship.

Hedges’ film never quite reaches Rachel Getting Married-like heights, but the fine first half is worth your time, even if the uneven second half delves into conventional territory.

Its hard turn into strange caper territory just ends up reading as facile, and unbecoming toward the emotional truths it starts straining for

...even when it stretches credibility it always has Roberts to steady it. This is the heftiest role she's had this decade and she is so powerfully great that it makes you hope the next decade will see her on screen a lot more.