Boy Erased

Writer-director Joel Egerton, who also plays a major role in the film, has put together a very good film, based on a true story, about an 18-year-old man whose parents send him to a Christian facility offering gay conversion therapy (i.e. he will be converted from being gay to being straight, since being gay is just a bad choice he has made in his life).

Lucas Hedges stars as Jared, and he does a great job, as do Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman as his parents, Marshall and Nancy. There are a number of well-drawn characters and lots of good dialogue telling an important story. Unfortunately, I think it’s the attempt to provide a sensitive nuanced story that prevents Boy Erased from becoming a great film, one that fully engages the heart as well as the mind. The other problem is the flashbacks, which are not well-structured into the story and therefore actually hinder our understanding of Jared's journey instead of helping it.

Nevertheless, Boy Erased gets ***+. My mug is up. Highly recommended to anyone who wonders what gay conversion therapy looks like (and how evil it is).