Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Honey Boy’ on Amazon Prime, Shia LaBeouf’s Compelling and Thoughtful Reflection on His Relationship With His Father

Now on Amazon Prime after a limited theatrical run, Honey Boy is the famous movie-as-therapy project of Shia LaBeouf. After a highly publicized 2017 incident in which the actor and filmmaker drunkenly berated police, he was ordered into rehab, where he wrote a screenplay based on his troubled relationship with his father, Jeffrey. He sent the script to director Alma Har’el, then cast Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges to play child and adult versions of the LaBeouf analogue character, Otis, and ultimately cast himself as Otis’ dad. During production, LaBeouf ended a seven-year estrangement with his father. Obviously, the movie is deep and meaningful for LaBeouf, but what does it have to offer a broad audience?

HONEY BOY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Twenty-two-year-old Otis (Hedges) is on a movie set one moment, and in custody the next. An altercation with police lands him in rehab, where a counselor says he needs to avoid trauma reminders (“But my work hinges on those,” he jabs bitterly) because he has post-traumatic stress disorder. “From WHAT?” he blurts.

Here’s what: Flashback: 1995, 10 years prior. Twelve-year-old Otis (Jupe) is on a movie set one moment, and in a dingy motel room the next. He’s in the care of his father, James (LaBeouf), working on a TV series and prepping for an MOTW (movie of the week). Finished with the day’s shoot, James plops Otis on the back of his Harley and buzzes him back to the motel, where they throw around F-bombs and smoke cigarettes as they run lines and consult the call sheet and argue. Initially, it’s hard to tell if James is a tough-love dad or an abusive one, but he’s definitely angry: He “has a record” that may prevent him from accompanying Otis to Vancouver for the movie, and he’s getting paid to be with the kid, so his motives are in question.

James is a motormouth, a Vietnam War vet, a former rodeo clown and a recovering addict, none of which are inherently bad, but in this particular combination, it renders him officially Something Else. He hits on women who barely tolerate his overbearing demeanor and racist jokes; he verbally squabbles with neighbors at the motel; when he meets Tom (Clifton Collins Jr.), Otis’ mentor in the Big Brother program, he verbally berates the guy and shoves him in the pool. Meanwhile, young Otis finds solace in a close, soothingly quiet, non-sexual relationship with a character the credits refer to as simply “shy girl” (FKA Twigs), an alternative to his father’s chaotic bullshit. Also meanwhile, adult Otis wonders if he has a place in the “hug circle” at rehab, and is urged to channel his feelings into his writing. So he writes a screenplay.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Lots of semi-autiobiographies come to mind, but these stand out: Mike Mills’ wonderful Beginners is based on his relationship with his father, who came out as gay late in life. The Squid and the Whale is Noah Baumbach’s painful reflection on his parents’ divorce. And Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous is more warmly nostalgic, a reminiscence of his loss of innocence, but it’s just as personal.

Performance Worth Watching: It’s with keen fascination that we watch LaBeouf play his own father as a damaged soul, abusive and nasty — and eventually sympathetic.

Memorable Dialogue: “The only thing my father gave me that was of any value was pain, and you want to take that away?” is the elder Otis’ assessment of his rehab therapy.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Honey Boy — a title derived from the nickname given to LaBeouf by his dad — doesn’t seek easy redemption for the father character. A scene late in the film was derived from a story LaBeouf’s father told him about a confessional moment during an AA meeting, and it shines some light on Jeffrey’s struggles. It doesn’t necessarily give the James character a pass for his ugly behavior, but it struck me as an opportunity for LaBeouf to self-reflect. Just like his father is portrayed, LaBeouf is prone to emotional outbursts and substance abuse, and the film can be interpreted as the actor’s step toward becoming a more psychologically healthy person.

Raw as the movie can be, it never feels uncomfortably personal, as if LaBeouf is oversharing. Har’el carefully modulates the tone so it’s more matter-of-fact, never self-pitying nor self-aggrandizing. This is the way LaBeouf’s life was, and is, and draw allegory and symbolism from the movie’s poetic, sometimes dreamlike flourishes as you may. It upends the tired story of a child star’s downward spiral by stripping away the cliches and finding greater truth in the details; it correlates how the damage fuels the art and the art fuels the damage. It also hints at LaBeouf’s creative choices past and present, and points compellingly at his future as a person and artist.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Honey Boy is a thoughtful, frequently absorbing drama, substantial not just for LaBeouf, but for its exploration of how trauma shapes who we are.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Honey Boy on Amazon Prime