You might know Shia LaBeouf from his 3 Transformers films between 2007 and 2011 or his subsequent 2017 arrest for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and obstruction. Zac, his brilliant co-Star in The Peanut Butter Falcon which was filming at the time told him to pull his head in, and, while on a 10 week court ordered stint in rehab Shia wrote Honey Boy exploring how his defensiveness and violence was the result of post-traumatic stress stemming from an incident in his childhood.

In the film Honey Boy, based on Shia’s childhood nickname, Shia plays his father James, a former rodeo clown who has sole custody of Otis, a child actor based on Shia who has to pay his Dad to be his guardian. The story flips back and forth between 2005 where we have an older Otis played brilliantly by Lucas Hedges as he struggles in rehab and 1995 where a younger Otis, also played brilliantly by Noah Jupe is trying to build a career as a child actor in Hollywood.

For anybody interested in therapy, addiction, PTSD, difficult parental relationships and damn fine drama, this film is a winner. I hope that it brought some catharsis to Shia as he is a gifted performer & writer with a lifetime of film-making ahead of him. Also check out Shia on Jimmy Kimmel discussing the film it is a GREAT insight into recovery.

4 Stars – “A Heartfelt, Intimate Drama”