Ending (SPOILERS ALERT)
Beau wasn't killed because Paul wasn't covered in blood. Remember the scene? Paul was going to kill Beau with a stone so that type of murder would leave the culprit all bloody and Paul wasn't.
The End.
Another piece of evidence pointing towards this is the the last line in the movie. Beau's stepmom Katelyn calls his cell phone and says: "Beau? Oh, thank God. We were worried sick. Where are you?" This most likely means he answered and is alive.
The ending was still terrible. Growing up English teachers would always say open endings to stories are good. I find the notion ridiculous. It's lazy storytelling. I don't need every piece of a story wrapped up but this movie gave no closure.
All of the parents except for Gere's character are sociopaths. How could they not report the crime to the police? Claire was the worst. She is mentally all there and treats her son like he can do no wrong. She kept referring to Gere ruining her son's future when he is the one that burned a woman alive.
Watched the film last night on Netflix. Nearly quit it in the first two minutes because of the distracting music, glad I stuck with it.
I had to repeat the last two minutes after reading your comment because I did not hear Katelyns comments on the phone. This critical line is spoken quietly and amidst a cacophony of others. Extremely poor editing here IMHO. Because we’ve previously been shown scenes that didn’t reveal the truth (first go round at the ATM, matches are thrown but no ignition results), you can’t be sure the Beau hasn’t been killed by his uncle. After investing 2 hours in the film, the viewer should be able to leave knowing that much.
Had the worlds first honorable politician stuck to his good instincts and alerted the press immediately he might have saved himself from needing to kick his brothers ass. I’m assuming at the end he was calling in the retirement press conference. Linney’s sociopathy (“it’s homework”) vs Geres honest good man was a joy to watch. I didn’t read the book but I’m curious if the arsonists father’s mental issues were exacerbated by the Linney characters sociopathy.