The sense of history you can feel between each character is rich and deep rooted.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 14, 2024

Even if Ben is Back tries a little too hard to ramp up the stakes, the fact remains that Hedges and Roberts’ performances make for an incredibly powerful on-screen relationship.

| Sep 21, 2023

Hedges’ film never quite reaches Rachel Getting Married-like heights, but the fine first half is worth your time, even if the uneven second half delves into conventional territory.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 17, 2022

Its hard turn into strange caper territory just ends up reading as facile, and unbecoming toward the emotional truths it starts straining for

| Jul 2, 2021

...even when it stretches credibility it always has Roberts to steady it. This is the heftiest role she's had this decade and she is so powerfully great that it makes you hope the next decade will see her on screen a lot more.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 29, 2021

Quite simply, Ben is Back is spectacular. That's a word I never thought I'd use for a film such as this, but the nuanced storytelling, subtle directing, and uniformly great performances make it a film that should not be missed.

| Apr 9, 2021

Paints a compelling picture of addiction but is almost undone by a silly plot twist that threatens to turn the movie into a thriller, diluting its effectiveness. Luckily strong work from Roberts, Hedges and Newton keep it grounded.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 3, 2021

Julia Roberts is one of the longest-standing movie stars on the planet, and she blew me away in Ben Is Back, Peter Hedges' new film.

| Nov 10, 2020

Ben is Back is Roberts's film.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 2, 2020

Hedges's central performance is one of expertly portrayed enigma.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2020

Ben Is Back could have been intense and universal in someone else's hands, but as is, it lacks confidence in how to get to its ending, resulting in unintentional hilarity.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 26, 2020

I'm not touched at all by this drama by director Peter Hedges. It's too condescending on the argument about drug addiction, family affection, and mother-to-child sacrifice. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 17, 2020

Gritty with an intimate reality, Ben is Back hits a little harder than other recent addiction stories but fails to give us the ultimate high.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 13, 2020

...Julia Roberts delivers a deeply nuanced turn as Holly, a mother trying to hold her world together and, especially, keep her son, Ben, from imploding.

| Original Score: A- | Apr 25, 2020

While Roberts and Hedges give strong performances, the increasingly over-the-top nature of their plight as they travel through a terrifying drug hell takes Ben is Back in a direction more suited to a direct-to-DVD thriller

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 3, 2020

Lucas [Hedges] delivers another excellent, performance, but Julia Roberts as Holly struggling with her son gives one that is emotionally charged and compelling.

| Aug 30, 2019

Hedges has been a star since his first role and he has had career-making performances in some of the best films of 2017 and 2018 alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 8, 2019

Nineteen-year-old drug abuser Ben Burns unsettles his family by showing up on the doorstep on Christmas Eve, when he should by rights still have been in rehab.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 23, 2019

The screenplay flirts with implausibility, but it draws up a compelling plot that squarely falls on mother and son.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 18, 2019

Very accurate and thrilling depiction of a day in the life of an addicts' recovery with outstanding performances!

| Original Score: A+ | May 23, 2019