Our Hero, Balthazar

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Our Hero, Balthazar

R

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1h 36m

Comedy

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

49 Reviews

92%

Popcornmeter

100+ 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.

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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Randy Myers

San Jose Mercury News

May 7

3.5/4

Taken all together, “Our Hero, Balthazar” is a button pusher that holds up a mirror to America and asks what is performative and what is real. It also dwells on how we can get out of this quicksand trap that young men are trapped in right now.

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Christy Lemire

FilmWeek (LAist)

Apr 27

It's surprisingly funny and humanistic, but also a dark satire about the America in which we live.

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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.

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Samantha Allen

them.

5d

...it’s among the first wave of films that feels like it has anything of interest to say about the crushing cycle of violence that has come to define American life.

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Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

May 14

3/5

Watching the two young men, you may well find your sympathies shifting – and you may wonder which of them, if either, is actually en route to becoming a killer.

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Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

May 14

B

Melodramatic, but it addresses serious contemporary realities with candor and conviction... and both Martell and Butterfield are outstanding.

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Gerry G

3d

brilliant performances by Asa Butterfield and Jaeden Martel keep attention when the script falls short

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erjon D

May 21

Lovely film, with great depiction of characters. It’s a social commentary of times we face.

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Roy J

May 20

Excellent debut! The writing and acting is phenomenal. This subject could've gone wrong and handled poorly, but the movie is so entertaining, unpredictable, and hilarious. I'm looking forward to this director's next venture! Highly recommend!

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Chev

May 20

captures my generation and the world perfectly, which is terrifying

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Sean T

May 15

An intense ride that was grippingly modern and relevant for the times we live in.

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Oliver

May 11

raunchy and dark and delightful

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Oscar Boyson

Director

Jaeden Martell

Actor

Asa Butterfield

Actor

Chris Bauer

Actor

Jennifer Ehle

Actor

Anna Baryshnikov

Actor

Our Hero, Balthazar: Trailer 1

2:07

Our Hero, Balthazar: Teaser Trailer

1:02

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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