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Beautiful Boy is a story of a college student who commits a mass shooting at his school and the aftermath that follows. The hook of the film is the mass shooting itself, but the film focuses more on the reaction of the boy's parents to such a tragedy. Their marriage is already shaky and on point of breaking, only to throw in such an incomprehensible tragedy.

The film doesn't focus too much on the shooting itself, or the motive for that matter. Instead the director and writers focus more on the grim aftermath of the shooting, particularly on those who were directly involved. As the film begins, the parents, Bill and Kate, are debating whether or not they should separate. The two live seemingly mundane lives, with Bill in the office and Kate has a proofreader. Their son Sammy, the shooter, is a college student. We see from the beginning that there are in fact some built-up resentments within their marriage, and the relationship as a whole, so there is very little holding their marriage together.

Once the news breaks about the mass shooting on a college campus, Bill and Kate stare frantically at the TV, hoping, just like every other parent, that their son is unharmed. To their grave surprise, however, when they hear a knock by the police officer at their door, they can only assume the worst. However, it is much worse than they could have ever imagined.

In addition to having to deal with the tragedy and fact that their son was the mass shooter, Bill and Kate are also constantly bombarded by news media hoping to get their questions answered. The film then follows Bill and Kate in a tale of grievance, sorrow, and eventual acceptance of the events that have occurred.

Beautiful Boy is a 2010 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 41 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.6 and a MetaScore of 62.