Lucas Hedges (Lady Bird, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri) had much early Oscar buzz surrounding his name for his work in Boy Erased. I was as hyped as anyone for that movie and that performance. As I had mentioned in my review of it, Boy Erased was based on a book that I had read before I even knew that there was a movie to be made on it (which NEVER happens). I liked the book and appreciated it being adapted into a movie. It deals with a controversial issue that I have somewhat strong thoughts on, and I was curious to see how it played out on film. And with a cast of Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Joel Edgerton, and Russell Crowe, I thought it would be a Top 10 contender for sure. However, it completely underwhelmed, and Hedges’ performance in the film was not as great as I expected. I did not expect Hedges to dominate every screen he was in during two other 2018 performances after the release of that October. However, he was fantastic as the bully of an older brother in the handful of scenes he was in Mid90s (a film that had no other name actors besides him. And he let the screen on fire, matching Hollywood’s finest actress over the last 25 years in Julia Roberts (August Osage County, Erin Brokovich) in the under-the-radar, poignant Ben is Back.
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