Movie Review: Boy Erased

Boy Erased *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Joel Edgerton.

Written By: Joel Edgerton based on the book by Garrard Conley.

Starring: Lucas Hedges (Jared Eamons), Nicole Kidman (Nancy Eamons), Russell Crowe (Marshall Eamons), Joel Edgerton (Victor Sykes), Troye Sivan (Gary), Britton Sear (Cameron), Xavier Dolan (Jon), Flea (Brandon), Joe Alwyn (Henry), Théodore Pellerin (Xavier), Cherry Jones (Dr. Muldoon), Madelyn Cline (Chloe), Jesse LaTourette (Sarah), Victor McCay (Aaron), David Joseph Craig (Michael), Emily Hinkler (Lee), Lindsey Moser (Tina).

 

I missed Desiree Akhavan’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post in theaters, and only caught with that film a week ago on VOD, which means it was fresh in my mind while I watched Joel Edgerton’s Boy Erased. Both films follow a teenager’s journey through Christian gay conversion therapy – and the disastrous results that can happen there. The Miseducation of Cameron Post was about the main character and their self-assurance – they may question themselves a little, but not much, and their coming of age, Boy Erased tries to zoom out a little bit and show how these kids are pushed into therapy in the first place. Cameron’s family is off-screen throughout that movie – while the main character’s parents in Boy Erased are essential to his story.

 

In this film, Lucas Hedges plays Jared Eamons, son of a Baptist preacher, Marshall (Russell Crowe) and his initially obedient wife Nancy (Nicole Kidman). Throughout high school, Jared tries to be “normal” – he has a beautiful girlfriend, plays sports, etc. When he gets to college though, he starts to at least allow himself to admit that he may be gay. His first “relationship” ends with a horrific assault – which will eventually force a confession to his parents. Which is how he ends up at Love in Action – a therapy group that will help him not be gay. He is just supposed to be there for a week for an “assessment” period – although a year long stint there may be what happens. His mother waits in a nearby hotel every day for him to call and be picked up. Jared finds the whole experience terrifying and confusing.

 

Boy Erased is more a performance piece than anything else – and on that level, it’s difficult to find fault in it. Lucas Hedges has quickly become one of the best young actors working in Hollywood is very good here as the confused and terrified Jared. Everyone in his life tells him there is something wrong with him, that he needs to get better, that he needs to want to get better – the exceptions are a kind doctor (Cherry Jones), who he doesn’t listen to, and his mother, who prefers not to talk about it. Hedges is great at showing us Jared and the journey he goes on to self-acceptance – something that is hard for everyone, but made all the worse because of what he forced through. Kidman is very good as well – she plays a mother who we think is a push over, but when it comes down it, she is perhaps the strongest willed character in the film. Russell Crowe does his best work in years as Jared’s father, who loves his on, but cannot come to terms with who he is. Joel Edgerton, who wrote and directed the film, is also quite good as the leader of the group trying to convert these kids. There is some strong work in support by Troye Sivan, Xavier Dolan and Britton Sear as fellow patients, and musician Flea is downright scary as an ex-convict brought in to show the men how to be men.

 

Boy Erased is an honorable film – and like The Miseducation of Cameron Post, on one level, I think the film will help a lot of people who see it, and begin to realize there is nothing wrong with them, despite what those around them think. This film may even help some of the parents of LGBTQ youth, who still struggle with their children’s sexuality, but want to love them and move forward. I do think the film is slightly more pat and predictable that the Cameron Post – it is precisely the film you think it will be when you sit down and watch it. Plus, I also think it leaves much of the hard work off-screen (Cameron is, I think, okay with herself by the end of her movie – as is Jared here – but while we watch Cameron’s journey to that, much of Jared’s happens in the title card “four years later”). But overall, this is a good film -  a heartfelt one – and an important one.