Movie Review
Family drama Ezra takes on struggles of parenting an autistic child
William A. Fitzgerald and Bobby Cannavale in Ezra.
As awareness about autism has spread in the world at large, so too have movies and TV shows featuring stories dealing with the neurological and developmental disorder. When projects do broach the topic, the autistic character is almost always the driving force of the plot, either as the main character or as someone around which other characters’ decisions revolve.
Ezra falls in the latter category, as even though it’s named after the school-aged Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald), it centers on his father Max (Bobby Cannavale), a stand-up comedian who shares custody of Ezra with his ex-wife, Jenna (Rose Byrne). As the film begins, Ezra is in a standard elementary school, but a series of outbursts – some of them physical – have Jenna and others wanting to put him in a special needs school.
When a misunderstanding forces the state’s hand, Max reacts poorly and kidnaps Ezra, with a half-baked plan to hide out with Max’s friend Nick (Rainn Wilson). A call from Jimmy Kimmel Live offering him a coveted spot on the show leads to a longer road trip than intended, with Jenna and Max’s dad Stan (Robert De Niro), as well as the police, trying their best to catch up with them.
Directed by Tony Goldwyn (who has a small part as Jenna’s new husband) and written by Tony Spiradakis, the film is a mostly surface-level examination of what it means to be a parent for an autistic child. How Max and Jenna handle Ezra differs greatly, with Max exposing Ezra to age-inappropriate material and Jenna generally agreeing with the stiffest restrictions put on Ezra when he runs afoul of authority figures. Although they both clearly love him, neither seems to know exactly what to do with Ezra, which is as honest as the film gets.
The father-son impromptu road trip is a conundrum for viewers, as it offers up hallmarks of movies with similar journeys, including unexpected detours and obstacles, but with Max’s crime and immaturity at the center of it. There are emotionally bonding moments along the way, but also a fair share of uncomfortable ones, including a scene in which Ezra tells Max that he needs him to be more like a father than a friend.
As road trip movies tend to do, the film loses focus at times. There’s a semi-weird stop at the house of Max’s ex-girlfriend Grace (Vera Farmiga), where her daughter Ruby (Matilda Lawler) bonds with Ezra over ice cream and horses. The relationship between Max and Stan is given a decent amount of time, but it would have been nice if their scenes included more emotional complexity, as there appears to a lot left unsaid between the two characters.
Cannavale is a fine actor who does his best to make Max into a believable character. He makes for a good-if-imperfect dad and a so-so comedian, with scenes showing his stand-up sets not really demonstrating the character’s talent. Fitzgerald is a newcomer who embodies the autistic characteristics well. The stacked supporting cast – Byrne, De Niro, Goldwyn, Wilson, Farmiga, Whoopi Goldberg – keeps even the smaller scenes interesting.
Ezra is a serviceable family drama that offers up a nice story with some minor faults. Anyone looking for strong insights into an autistic character will find themselves wanting, but the cast is strong enough to cover up most of the storytelling deficiencies.
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Ezra opens in theaters on May 31.
