If You're a Julia Roberts Fan

An indie drama starring Julia Roberts came out last December. It didn't cause much of a ripple with moviegoers but it got praise from some established, reputable film critics. A few days ago, one of my Twitter buddies watched the movie and wrote "Roberts is outstanding..." I just watched the anxious Christmastime family drama called BEN IS BACK. I enthusiastically agree with those critics and with my Twitter buddy, @ XanaduFitness.  I watched it on Amazon Prime. If you're a Julia Roberts fan, you need to see BEN IS BACK. She delivers one of her best and strongest performance since ERIN BROCKOVICH. As in that 2000 film for which Roberts earned a Best Actress Oscar, she plays a devoted mother in BEN IS BACK.  Ben, the oldest of her children, surprises the family with a Christmas Eve visit. Ben is a recovering drug addict.

The movie opens with a tranquil shot of a snow-covered wooded area. We see local village shops. The music score composition is solemn strings that transition into a church hymn. We're inside a church and the camera tilts down to the smiling, beaming face of Julia Roberts watching one of her girls rehearse a Christmas carol in the church choir. This is the oldest, always dependable daughter. As they pull up into the driveway of their big, comfortable, suburban home, they see Ben. Mom is overjoyed. The daughter is cautious and unsmiling. She knows that Ben can be drama. Ben is played extremely well by Lucas Hedges.  He and Julia Roberts connect so well that you fully believe the two actors are mother and son. Has Ben completely let go of his addiction? And what about her? A mother's love, at its utmost, is rather like an addiction. Can Ben's mother let go of him?

Julia Roberts has been a popular movie star since 1990 when PRETTY WOMAN was released. When she gets a really good role and absorbs the character, the charismatic actress gives off an extra energy, an extra heat that you can feel. There's a little something more vivid about her performance. I felt that watching her as ERIN BROCKOVICH. You feel it watching her as the mother in BEN IS BACK. Holly Burns (Roberts) is on her second marriage. The first marriage, to Ben's father, was not happy. Her second husband, strong and wary like Holly's oldest daughter, is played by Courtney B. Vance. This is another solid performance. When Holly sees that Ben has come home on Christmas Eve, she cheerfully says to her husband, "He's got the sparkle back in his eyes." Neal, her husband who is fully aware of Ben's past drug-related messes, tells her bluntly "If he was black, he'd be in jail by now."

Ben is a troubled soul, yet he is not without his charm. We see this in how much his little brother and sister love having him around and how much he loves their company.  I won't tell you the rest of the story.  However, Holly will see for herself how dark her son's drug life was in the suburbs. Mother and son drive into some rough and raw territory, physically and emotionally.  We will see that, although she's a wife and mother in the comfortable suburbs, she can and will go Samuel L. Jackson street tough on yo' ass as she works to keep a protective eye on her son. There's a shopping mall scene in which Holly delivers a verbal punch to someone's throat.  Here's a trailer.

BEN IS BACK, directed and written by Peter Hedges (father of actor Lucas Hedges) is an intense family drama about love, guilt, forgiveness and addiction.  Julia Roberts heads a fine cast and gives a dynamic performance. It's one of her best.