15 Recent Performances That Were Criminally Underrated
10. Lucas Hedges In Honey Boy
Lucas Hedges plays Honey Boy's analog for modern day Shia LaBeouf, and he does so with a stunning level of accuracy. Hedges has LaBeouf's cadence and mannerisms down to a science. It's uncanny watching him, because while he doesn't look like Shia (nor is he supposed to for the role, he's not literally playing him), he acts exactly like him.
Separate from his mirroring of LaBeouf's very essence, he brings depth of emotion that really works. He starts out reserved and confident, totally unwilling to open himself up to therapy. Essentially, he's a cocky jerk, and he pulls off seeming wholly unlikable perfectly. However, as the story progresses, the intensity of the pain he shows is unbelievable, and he becomes a redeemable, sympathetic man by the end of the film.
His journey is one of the most accurate, moving depictions of therapy ever put to film and it's all because of Hedges' performance.