It seems that since the Columbine shootings in 1999, we've been bombarded by killings on college campuses. There was the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. Then there was the guy who decapitated a classmate at Virginia Tech. (You know, the shooter at Fort Hood went to Virginia Tech. What the hell is happening at Virginia Tech?) These stories often focus on the murderers and on the victims. The media tells us stories about those who were killed and then try to psycho-analyze the killer. However, we rarely hear very much about the family of the murderer. What happens to them? That is the focus of the movie Beautiful Boy.

As Beautiful Boy opens, we meet Kate (Maria Bello) and Bill (Michael Sheen), a married couple who have grown apart -- in fact, Bill is planning on moving out. They have one child, Sam (Kyle Gallner), who is away at college. One morning, the news reports that there has been a mass shooting at Sam's school. As they frantically try to reach him, Kate and Bill are visited by the police who report that Sam was the shooter and that he took his own life. At first, Kate doesn't believe it. The media begins to hound them, so Kate and Bill go to stay with Kate's brother, Eric (Alan Tudyk) and his wife, Trish (Moon Bloodgood). As the days pass, Kate and Bill alternate between bouts of emotion and attempting to get back to their old lives. However, there are constant reminders of the tragedy everywhere they turn. One thing is for sure, the event will have a lasting effect on their relationship.

Even when we don't know what a movie is about going in, once the basic premise is introduced, we create expectations for story. Sometimes, the movie will defy these expectations and throw us plot twists which keep us guessing. Other movies take the story in another direction, defying our expectations. And, unlike the plot twist, this can be unsatisfying. Such is the case with Beautiful Boy.

To its credit, Beautiful Boy offers a fantastic idea by focusing on the effect that a campus shooting has on the killer's parents. In the past, stories like this have looked at the victims, or the lives of the murderer. By keeping the story centered on Kate and Bill, we are offered a totally different dynamic. We see how they were before the shootings, and how the tragedy not only changes their lives but how they interact with each other. The movie rarely breaks away from this view and we only get hints of how others feel about them.

However, this unique approach makes some choices which simply don't gel with what I wanted to see. I applaud the fact that the movie doesn't examine Sam, but one would think that Kate and Bill would want to investigate Sam's actions. However, that isn't how they react. They don't go his dorm room, they don't search through his belongings (at first), they don't examine their lives, and they don't watch the video of Sam's manifesto which is leaked to the media. Some of this is understandable, but in the end, it doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't Kate and Bill want to look into this? The result is a movie which starts with a bang, and then settles into a lull. We watch Bill and Kate dance around each other and the truth, but it's not very engaging. The movie never fails to have one of them front and center, but it never allows us to get too close to them.

When they do finally begin to accuse one another of damaging Sam and effecting his upbringing, it's too little, too late. The story plants little hints as to how each of them could have caused Sam to do what he did, but there's nothing conclusive. That's fine, as we rarely do learn what makes people snap in real life, but Beautiful Boy waits far too long for any catharsis. Once it does come, it shows that Bello and Sheen are terrific actors, but it still doesn't draw us into the story. Just as they don't understand why Sam did what he did, we can't understand why they are doing what they are doing. Add to this the fact that everything seems to go wrong for them, and we get a movie which claims an emotional peak and never comes down on the other side. Beautiful Boy is the kind of film which offers answers, but doesn't ask the right questions.

Beautiful Boy is the third thing that I've seen Alan Tudyk in this week on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing no defects from the source material. However, Director Shawn Ku has opted to shoot the film in a verite style, allowing the grain to really show through. Even knowing that this was an artistic choice, the level of grain here is still distracting at times. Ku has also chosen to de-saturate the colors. This transfer does a fine job of representing the intended look of the film, but the HD also accentuates what some may consider to be flaws. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Being a sober drama, we don't get a lot of dynamic sound effects here. There are some minor stereo and surround effects during exterior scenes. The highlight is a moment where Kate is listening to music through headphones and the music fills the speakers, mimicking what she is experiencing.

The Beautiful Boy Blu-ray Disc contains only a few extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Co-writer/Director Shawn Ku, Editor Chad Glaster, and Cinematographer Michael Fimognari. The Disc contains 3 DELETED SCENES which run about 2 minutes. We don't get anything truly new, but the first two are interesting, as they show more of how Kate tries to cope with the situation. The final extra is the TRAILER for the movie.