Honey Boy

2019 Directed by Alma Har'el

The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.

Shia LaBeouf Lucas Hedges Noah Jupe Byron Bowers Laura San Giacomo FKA twigs Natasha Lyonne Maika Monroe Clifton Collins Jr. Martin Starr Dorian Brown Pham Craig Stark Sandra Rosko Greta Jung Kara C. Roberts Giovanni Lopes Paulina Lule Eli Santana Ludwig Manukian Chala Savino Leana Chavez Graham Clarke Zack Whyel Ben Maccabee Kingston Vernes Bryan Sapphire Haylee Sanchez Autumn Barlow Al Burke

Alternative Titles

宝贝童年, ハニー・ボーイ, Medeni dečak, 我的寶貝男孩, Honungspojken, Hunajapoika, Şeker Çocuk, Гарний хлопчик, Медено момче, Лапочка, 허니 보이, ילד דבש

drama

94 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by iana ★★★★½ 5

my biggest weakness is sincerity so, yeah, i loved HONEY BOY. it’s more than just a cinematic memoir, it’s an act of forgiveness. the whole cast is wonderful but noah jupe displays a wisdom and emotional maturity far beyond his years. i really hope he goes far.
Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★ 13

Oh, this was a painful watch.
This is a movie about the inescapable trauma you can inherit from your parents and how hard it is not to love them in spite of it all. It’s a movie about recognizing your own problems as they happen but still feeling powerless to stop them, feeling like you need them. I recognize so many of Otis’s actions and emotions in people I know, in people I’ve loved. I’ve reckoned with the frustration of loving these people and feeling like they should “just be better,” only to see a pain in their eyes that shows me that they’re trying. More than anything, it’s clear that this movie is a cathartic (if maybe too meta)…
Review by katie ★★★★★ 12

"I'm going to make a movie about you."
Honey Boy is not perfect. *update, it very much is perfect. But Honey Boy is loud, and with emotions as honest and raw as these, loud is perfect. Loud enough to give me bruises and stains of mascara on my cheeks, honest enough to dig up old phone calls with my dad, raw enough to leave me in pieces. All I know right now, with the scars Honey Boy left with me, is that Noah Jupe gives my favorite performance of the year, and Shia LaBeouf is just about as emotionally vulnerable as a writer and performer can get. I don't think I could get this movie out of my head if I tried.
And I wouldn't dare.
"Make me look good, Honey Boy."
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★ 19

Last year it was Ethan Hawke, this year it’s Shia (so far). One of the most powerful performances I’ve seen in awhile. Agh. Yeah. Hm. Wow. Glad I exchanged my Velvet Buzzsaw ticket for this. You people are gonna eat this shit up.
Review by maria ★★★★½ 9

forget dad astra, THIS is the daddy issues movie of 2019 and possibly of ever
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★ 22

So much going on here, I think it's pretty brilliant. Will be elaborating more on the Karstcast episode coming next monday!
(please don't like this review and make a podcast plug one of the top reviews for this movie please)
Review by Sean Baker 12

Been a fan of Alma Har'el since Bombay Beach. I knew she would make a solid narrative fiction film someday and she did with Honey Boy.
DP Natasha Braier (Neon Demon, The Rover) is one of my favorite DP's and she really kicks ass with this one. I LOVE these Cooke Xtal Express anamorphic lenses.
variety.com/2019/film/spotlight/shia-lebeouf-honey-boy-dp-natasha-braier-took-nonfiction-approach-to-fiction-feature-1203404499/
Watched at Cineplex Odeon Scotia Bank - Vancouver
Review by Jay ★★★½ 1

youll be glad to know this coming of age movie features many pool sequences
Review by Gabriel Gundacker 22

I love Shia Labeouf. One time, I was at a Los Angeles flea market and Shia Labeouf came up to me and handed me a flyer to one of his celebrity-filled music events like he was putting on a community theater production. Us both pretending we both didn’t know he was Shia Labeouf was some of the more affecting performance art I’ve ever taken part in.
Labeouf’s emboldened ego and desperation to be taken seriously has made for, I think, some very entertaining, but not entirely sympathetic, movies and art. But while I have no doubt that Shia is dealing with a lot of truth about a deeply fucked-up childhood here, his inability to approach his Honey Boy script with…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 2

an intoxicating mix of free-floating, almost docudrama camerawork, expressionistic lighting and raw nerve performances. who knew that a metatextual psychodrama about the life of shia labeouf would end up a real-deal artistic work of overwhelming empathy and generosity? watching him psychologically access the POV of his abuser not with with judgement or anger but with sensitivity is remarkable. so in tune with its characters rippling pain and messy, sometimes contradictory feelings that the occasional bit of clumsy writing almost works in its favor.
Review by kevin abstract ★★★★★ 25

Perfect
Review by ˗ˏˋ Liam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★★ 2

“i’m going to make a movie about you”

this broke me i am broken

Recent reviews

Review by Seven ★★★★½

" I'm going to make a movie about you.”
"Make me look good, Honey Boy."
Fuck man. This was hitting pretty hard but those final moments got me good, I was in tears for the entire credit sequence. As many have said this feels more like a therapy session than a traditional movie experience which makes it kind of hard to rate. It's such a raw, messy, and often very uncomfortable experience but also handles the topic with surprising sensitivity. Labeouf, Hedges, and Jupe are all excellent in their respective roles. I've seen actors working out their trauma in film before but never like this, never like Honey Boy.
Review by Naike ★★★★

Hits dif when you used to have a similar relationship to your dad like that:( beautiful movie
Review by DefterIt ★★★

A bit cheeky
Review by SarahZirk05 ★★

Not that great. The plot didn't really go anywhere
Review by saighteen ★

Boring
Review by Mia C. V. ★★★★

Noah Jupe is more talented than anyone else on earth, probably.
Review by PhillyBoi ★★★★

No matter how controversial this man might be his upbringing and youth is truly tragic and I commend him for being able to accept his past and move on
7.7/10
Review by harper ★★★★½

kind of a power move tbh
Review by Matti ★★★★

Powerful stuff. The opening has one of the best montages I remember seeing.
Review by indiamars ★★★★★

Feels real but surreal I love this movie so much an eye opener
Review by emelie ★★★★★

In all honesty- it should be illegal to make a movie this good. I don't know how I went through all 5 stages of grief multiple times in just an hour and 34 minutes but that did in fact happen. I think it's perfect in every way, and I only say this because as I'm writing this I can't think of a single thing I'd change. I mean who am I to critique how Shia Lebeouf is telling his own story? I can't do that, but I can say that I loved the way he chose to do it. One of my favorite movies of all time right here.
Review by ph0eeb ★★★★½

i often find myself thinking of this film. whne i first wtached over a year ago i fell in love instantly. the chemsitry between noah and shia in these father son fight scenes was impecable, but what stood out to me was the silences. every moment of this film was crafted with so much care, thought and love. in my own english teacher kind of way i came up with ideas for symbols like the recurring chicken, and i was just astonished with the detail. (dm me on ig if ur interested i have a lot of theories about particular things in this film) for me it was one of this films that i often thought of, even though it…