Hollywood has had a tough time dealing with the subject matter of kids with autism in film.

In 2021, the film entitled “Music” was lambasted by critics due to people taking exception to how the film handles autistic people, especially during outbursts and Tantrums. Because the subject matter of autistic children is such a hot-button issue for many people, Hollywood by and large tries to ignore it as much as possible. That doesn’t mean that you won’t get movies that try to tackle the approach from a sympathetic perspective which gives us the latest film from Bleecker Street entitled Ezra.

No, this is not a movie about the life of Ezra Miller, thank God.

Ezra is the story of an up-and-coming stand-up comedian on the New York City circuit named Max played by  Bobby Cannavale. Max is recently divorced and shares custody With his young artistic son named Ezra. Max is on the cusp of getting his Big Break by being able to do stand-up comedy on the Jimmy Kimmel Show which would give him National recognition. 

Before he can get his big break, Max has to deal with Ezra who has been acting out at school and is being threatened with expulsion.  Max refuses to put his kid in a special school or give him any drugs that could alter his behavior, so Max decides to kidnap his son and take him on a journey across the country to Los Angeles so that he can perform live on Kimmel.

While Max’s heart may be in the right place, his brain certainly is not as his decision to take his son from New York to LA has put him at the Forefront of a nationwide manhunt which will only make his situation far worse before it ever gets better.

Ezra is a film that is a character study of two people.  The core of this movie is a father’s relationship with his son. You have the character of Max dealing with the reality that his son is autistic and refusing to allow him to fall under the category of special needs. Then you have the character of  Ezra, a young boy with many ticks. As an autistic child Who was trying to navigate his life in the middle of two parents who were in a divorce.

When Max can’t figure out what his next step should be, he goes to his father, played by Robert De Niro, for advice even though he tends never to listen even when it is given. The movie tries its best to portray the reality of a fractured family yet still can’t manage to do it outside of the Hollywood lens.  

Normal Americans are not going to identify with the plight of a stand-up comedian who is being toggled between two strings of New York City and Los Angeles. The typical Hollywood problem of not understanding how life outside of the two coasts works leaves this film with a massive emotional disconnect that desperately needs to be fulfilled as a story.

Tony Goldwyn, the director of this film, tries to model this movie along similar lines to the 2014 film Chef which was directed by Jon Favreau. In the film Chef,  Favreau is a borderline absentee father who dropped his entire life for a glorified road trip in a true bonding moment with his son. Ezra tries to replicate that same Dynamic but the problem is that the protagonist is still too selfish about his well-being to truly dedicate the time needed to have a true relationship with his son.

The character spends too much time worrying about how the world is going to perceive Ezra rather than stopping and questioning how to make his son’s life easier. The movie has an ensemble cast of actors that you have all seen in projects before such as Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, and Rainn Wilson. Everyone in the film gives a good performance but nothing that is going to stand out in the grand scheme of movies this year. 

When it comes to the film’s depiction of autistic kids, the movie fails to present the audience with the most ideal way to deal with children with disabilities however succeeds at showing the difficulty that parents have in raising a child that requires a lot of patience and understanding that quite frankly many families simply do not have.

You’re not going to get many heartwarming films in 2024, Ezra is a solid change of pace for audiences looking for something less nihilistic. With that said the film is certainly short of the expectations it’s set to realize.

A mixed bag of goodies that will split audiences based on how close the topic of disabled kids hits them.

2.5/5

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