Directed by Joel Edgerton
Written by Joel Edgerton (screenplay) and Garrard Conley (memoir)
Starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Joel Edgerton, and Russell Crowe
Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes
MPAA rating: R

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer

“Jared, God will not love you the way that you are.” These words, emphatically delivered by Victor Sykes (Joel Edgerton), an impassioned lead facilitator at a gay conversion therapy center, carry so much conviction, so much weighty concern. His “helpful” directive is aimed at Jared Eamons, our boy of note in Boy Erased, played with nuance and sensitivity by Lucas Hedges (Mid90s, Lady Bird, Ben is Back). The thing is, young Jared doesn’t yet know who he is. Does God still love us, even if we haven’t figured ourselves out yet? If there is a benevolent God like the one Western religions claim, wouldn’t it love us no matter what?