Ezra-Tony Goldwyn

I had waffled back and forth on seeing this movie. At one point I was dead set on it, then, when I read over the cast and the premise I decided to pass. But after getting out of a different movie at an earlier time than I had expected—and wanting to utilize my Regal pass to its maximum—I made my way back into the lobby and scanned over showtimes to see if there was anything worth watching.

Low and behold Ezra was seating at 1:50 PM.

Might as well bite the bullet.

The reasoning behind my waffling between hesitation and enthusiasm lies within the cast of fallen stars. I think Robert DeNiro has completely lost his marbles. Whoopi Goldberg has gone from a wise sage into a maniacal and judgmental drama queen that incorrigibly spews delusional diarrhea on The View. And—granted, he only appears in the end credits (that I walked out on)—Jimmy Kimmel is second only to Howard Stern in the department of marionette phony sellouts who compromised their nuts to get in good with the elite.

But conversely speaking to all of these factors, I must admit that I think Bobby Cannavale is immensely talented and—so far as everything I have seen him in—a complete joy to watch on the screen.

Bobby is a unique product on the screen in that his character, be it Fast Food Nation, The Station Agent, or Win/Win, is always the same, yet, different at the same time. There is something genuine he brings to the table so naturally that it is almost infectious. Like, he always leaves you with the impression of a type of haphazard, happy-go-lucky personality that would be a blast to have a few cold ones with while watching a ball game.

At least to me he seems that way.

Anyways, having firsthand experience in being around children who are struck with the sickness of autism, and seeing the difficulties that come with it, the premise of a Dad attempting to reach his dreams (no matter how despicably decrepit they may be) by reaching for his big break while attempting to maintain a razor thin relationship with his autistic child, seemed like it was worth a watch and acted as a moral challenge to myself. Would I be able to put aside my personal feelings of Goldberg, DeNiro, and Kimmel for the sake of the performance and the story?

The answer was a resounding yes.

In the spring of 2011, when I was living in Pittsburgh, a roommate of mine left a candle burning and set the house we were sharing on fire. A good friend of mine at the time allowed me to stay with her for a brief period until I could get back on my feet and find a place to live. She had two young boys that she was raising and the older one suffered from autism.

During that limited time, when I would often help with watching her children, I could see the subtle but radical differences in the boys. One boy would grow frustrated with building blocks when they would tumble, give into pouting about all of the work he had just invested going down the drain, and then it would pass. The older boy, when he couldn't figure out how to get past a certain stage on his Nintendo Switch, would scream as if someone had put his big toe into a mechanical vice and then proceed to launch his handheld console at the wall.

The 0-60 applied to everything. Tiny joys were magnified into mountaintop glories and every inconvenience was aggrandized into a life-threatening situation.

I don't profess to be any sort of scientist, so I can't say with any degree of accuracy of how greatly he was afflicted with autism, but in comparison to Ezra's (William A Fitzgerald) character, I would say he suffered from a mild form.

Nevertheless, with time I have come to appreciate how difficult it is to raise children. And you can double that sentiment for single parenthood. And if you add autism into the mix you can multiply it times ten.

Ezra brings these difficulties to life very well through his young and extremely affluent skills as an actor and Max (Bobby Cannavale), Jenna (Rose Byrne), and Bruce (Tony Goldwyn) interact and reflect the difficulties and stress involved with raising an autistic child that majority of the world is completely ignorant to with a tremendous amount of finesse.

It is tough enough to navigate the waters of divorce in a young child's developmental stage, but when you add into the mix a litany of "professionals" who refuse to acknowledge Ezra as a human being and regard him rather as a nuisance that simply needs to be pacified with zombie state-inducing anti-psychotic medications and then passed on like a hockey puck into special schools for the mentally challenged, it can be (no pun intended) a tough pill to swallow.

I was a bit surprised that—in an obviously lefty-sponsored movie—the writer (Tony Spiridakis) implemented the notion that perhaps doctors are pushing these false antidotes (that supposedly "solve" the issues of mental health) on children for kick-backs, as lefties are known to almost always go to bat for pharmaceutical conglomerates and take everything that doctors say as the gospel truth, but they did. And Max's fury is understandably frustrating and justified. He and Jenna can see the beauty and brilliance and love in their son Max, whereas majority of the rest of the world only views him as a rogue commodity. One of which they know better in what to do with him than his own parents.

Bobby and Jenna battle the stress that comes from inconsiderate doctors and impatient school authority figures while also tip-toeing around Ezra's unique hurtles. He refuses to be hugged. Presenting him with banana's on anything is the equivalent of setting a blowtorch upon his skin. Unless there is plastic silverware to eat with instead of metal, it necessitates a freak out.

These are just a few of the battles that Jenna and Max face until the pressure gets to Max and he kidnaps Ezra for an impromptu road trip out to L.A.

Max is a fledgling comedian. He is the proto-typical make believe stand up that—much like Tom Hanks' Steven Gold in Punchline—is immensely talented but only seems to really shine the brightest at sabotaging their own success. Despite his persistent screw ups, manager Jayne (Whoopi Goldberg) gets him a stand up spot on Jimmy Kimmel and what began as a heat-of-the-moment-defiance-of-authority-kidnapping turns into a cross-country trek for success.

What happens along the journey I shall leave out as I don't want to completely ruin the movie, but it was fun at times and heartbreaking at others.

This movie had a tremendous amount of soul in it, which, really, is all I ask for in the end. DeNiro as Stan, Maxes bullheaded father, was a little superfluous I thought, but was good nevertheless and Whoopi served her role without attempting to steal away from the story.

I hadn't seen Rose Byrne in anything besides Bridesmaids (at least, I don't believe I have) and I don't remember her part in that very much either. But she was spectacular as Jenna and it didn't surprise me at all that her and Bobby were real life boyfriend and girlfriend. The chemistry was that good.

I really enjoyed the story, the acting was very sharp (across the board), and even the photography and score were surprisingly fresh and original. Some cookie cutter films like You Hurt My Feelings attempt to capture fake families in tumult and fail tremendously in doing so, this one did not.

It just goes to show that preconceived notions are nothing more than another detriment to enjoyment.

Stars: ****

Verdict: Watch

Cousins: Win/Win, The Station Agent, Mercury Rising, My Left Foot, Forest Gump