Not currently showing on the local cinema circuit.
| Cast |
Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges, Courtney B. Vance, Kathryn Newton, Rachel Bay Jones, David Zaldivar, Alexandra Park |
| Director |
Peter Hedges |
| Screenplay | Peter Hedges |
| Music | Dickon Hinchliffe |
| Cinematography | Stuart Dryburgh |
| Editing | Ian Blume |
| Made in | 2018 |
| Produced by | Black Bear Pictures, 30West, Color Force |
Official Site | IMDB page | CommonSenseMedia Report
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| Genre | Drama |
| Language | The use of crude language is fairly frequent and has a moderate impact used in expressing surprise, fear, concern, anxiety, anger, frustration and regret and conversationally. |
| Nudity | None |
| Sex | None |
| Violence | It is infrequent and of low impact with no injury or blood-letting. |
| Prejudice | None |
| Blasphemy | None |
| Drug abuse | None (sic) |
| Comments | The themes are complex, mature, adult and positive themes of moderate impact based on tacking drug addiction, effects of drugs and consequences of actions, a mother’s tough love, redemption and forgiveness, love, rehabilitation and forgiveness providing emotional and psychological support to drug addicts mitigating negative themes. The themes focus on a relevant issue affecting many families in different societies. They are educational and inspiring with messages to warn teenagers of the dangers of drug consumption and abuse, containing a strong anti-abuse message and measures to prevent it thus creating awareness and being a cautionary tale. Therefore, viewers of 13 years will learn the long-lasting consequence of drug use which mitigates the negative aspect of the drug use theme. There are also negative themes of drug addiction, manipulation, fear, drug dealing, deceit and lies, rejection and death. The themes are laced with a moderate sense of threat and menace and the tone is sombre with a sense of fear and doom. The theme manifestation might cause emotional and moral harm to viewers younger than 13 because the characters are all highly emotionally charged. They might misinterpret the tension as menace. Themes like drug addiction, overdose and dealing could be morally harmful, upsetting, disturbing and distressing for viewers younger than 13. |
| These details are supplied by the FPB. If you have a problem with any of the above, please take it up directly with the FPB. Read the Classification Guidelines. | |
| R: Restricted | unknown |
| Runtime | 103 |
| USA version is usually but not always the same as South African release. Versions released on streaming or DVD, Blu-ray or Video may also differ. | |
| Suggested age limit 15 + |
Positive messages |
Positive role models |
Violence |
Sex |
Language |
| Consumerism |
Drinking, drugs, smoking |
| Scale (Max) | 20 |  |
What the Critics say | ||
| Die Burger Herschelle Benjamin  Roberts, Hedges se spel anker anderse Kersprent. | 10 |  |
| 24.com Herman Eloff Although it’s a gripping telling of a heart-breaking tale, it never truly ventures into the darkest of realities faced by addicts. It’s a very clean and unblemished look at a grievous subject matter. | 15 |  |
| Metacritic.com 12 critics | 13 |  |
| Rottentomatoes critics 46 critics | 13 | |
| Rottentomatoes tomatometer Tomatometer Refreshingly understated, Ben Is Back subverts family drama stereotypes - and provides a forum for terrific performances from Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts. | 17 | |
| CommonSenseMedia Sandie Angulo Chen Powerful, mature mother-son drama tackles addiction. | 15 | |
What the People say | ||
| IMDB 378 Netizens | 13 | |
Average .. 69% | 14 | |