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Our Hero, Balthazar

Play trailer 2:07 Poster for Our Hero, Balthazar R Now Playing 1h 36m Comedy Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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92% Tomatometer 38 Reviews 97% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Eager to impress his activist crush, a wealthy New York teenager follows an online connection to Texas, where he's convinced he can stop an act of extreme violence.
Our Hero, Balthazar

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Oscillating between brutal humor and unsettling insight, Our Hero, Balthazar is an audacious and often astonishing directorial debut tinged with riveting performances and sprawling thematic ambition.

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Critics Reviews

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Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Mar 26
A black-comic acid bath that, in only an hour and a half, nods to so many contemporary concerns that it rivals last year’s “Eddington” in its scope... The film may not propose a solution to any of our maladies, but it’s a bitterly convincing diagnosis. Go to Full Review
Lisa Kennedy New York Times Mar 26
So many details in this comedy-drama are meant to provoke. And “Our Hero, Balthazar” teases with the promise of a darkly intelligent film. Not unlike its protagonist’s tears, the effect is dismayingly performative. Go to Full Review
Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle Jun 13
It may start as a comedy but Our Hero, Balthazar becomes an increasingly uneasy watch. However, it may be an essential one. Go to Full Review
Todd Jorgenson Cinemalogue 6h
Navigating a tonal tightrope, this darkly provocative comedy lacks subtlety yet compensates with sincerity. Go to Full Review
Erik Childress Movie Madness Podcast 20h
3.5/4
Many recent films have tried (and failed) to deal with school shootings through humor & satire. This one manages to do that while taking a good, hard look at the weaponization of detached masculinity and never losing touch with the horrors it has amassed. Go to Full Review
Brogan Luke Bouwhuis InBetweenDrafts Apr 11
8/10
For those with the stomach for it, this is an extremely valuable watch. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Amy Apr 5 Great film! Thought provoking , edgy, uncomfortable, confrontational, are words that come to mind while on this roller coaster ride with Jaeden and Asa. Definitely worth checking out! See more David Apr 5 Brilliant, hilarious and makes you think See more Andrew S @RT13499783 8h Absolute must see for teens! Studios no longer make full throttle, art house character and plot driven films like Our Hero Balthazar anymore. Serious breath of fresh air... A balls to the wall dark comedic look at today's youth. The screenplay and direction are astounding! Written by two men who clearly understand the subject matter and issues facing teens today - both on a national and human level. The film grabs you from the open and never lets up through the pulse pounding ending. You'll wake up the following morning still thinking of the characters. The humor comes at you right from the jump - you'll want to see it again to catch the layering you missed while laughing through the first go.  See more Alexis M @RT17362526 11h Don’t sleep on this film. It feels like a love letter to that unruly part of you—the one that laughs at precisely the wrong moment, then refuses to apologize. To call it "genre-blending" would be a kind of failure of language. It moves with a sincere confidence between tones without announcing the shift. The writing is what holds it together—it tethers the film just enough to keep it from collapsing under its own ambition. The score hums with a kind of bright, twinkling naïveté that both seduces and destabilizes the film’s pace. There are moments where the film quietly acknowledges its own construction—gestures that recall Elephant, not as imitation but as lineage. At its core, the film sketches a painfully recognizable caricature of human connection: self-mythology collides with something more animal. When lack—raw, unadorned—reaches for form, for control, for something to hold. Sometimes it’s a person. Sometimes it’s a gun. Phantasms and masks and sincerity somehow align. See more Chris C. @ransomscreams 3d Outstanding performances from the two leads. Butterfield in particular is incredible but everyone showed up for this. It's effortlessly sharp, timely and hilarious. Imagine if Todd Solondz wrote and directed a Bret Easton Ellis adaptation. It's also refreshingly brisk in its run time without hitting a dull beat. Can't recommend it enough. A true reflection of who all of us really are. All we want is to be acknowledged. Some of us just take it a little too far. Great movie. See more Jules E. @Jewingpitney 3d This movie leaves you thinking - as the best movies always do. It’s horrifying for those less immersed in social media (think boomer, like me), but it captures something real, and magnifies the painful absurdity of the world the characters find themselves in through dark humor. Superb acting… See more Read all reviews
Our Hero, Balthazar

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Movie Info

Synopsis Eager to impress his activist crush, a wealthy New York teenager follows an online connection to Texas, where he's convinced he can stop an act of extreme violence.
Director
Oscar Boyson
Producer
Oscar Boyson, Ricky Camilleri, Jon Wroblewski, David Duque-Estrada, Miles Skinner, Alex Hughes, Jaeden Martell
Screenwriter
Oscar Boyson, Ricky Camilleri
Distributor
Picturehouse
Production Co
Oh Boy, Spacemaker Productions
Rating
R (Language Throughout|Crude Sexual Content|Graphic Nudity|Drug Use|Some Violence/A Grisly Image)
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 27, 2026, Limited
Runtime
1h 36m