In Beautiful Boy, the themes are vast but the picture is small, and the ensuing emptiness is what the characters are meant to feel -- not us.

An excruciating drama about a couple caught in the aftermath of a pivotal moment involving their college-age son.

At a certain point lofty objectivity is just a refusal to engage, and no raw camera work can disguise it.

Even with its flaws “Beautiful Boy” can be a powerful film that handles some tricky and weighty subject matter with care and compassion.