Films for Breakfast

When it comes to depicting autism in film, especially when you want to balance humor and sensitivity for the subject in equal measure, it feels like a monumental to task. This is where I don’t envy Tony Goldwyn’s Ezra, a film that follows the titular character (played by young actor William A. Fitzgerald) and his father Max (Bobby Cannavale) as Ezra struggles to fit in at school. Ezra has a solid support system between his mother Jenna (Rose Byrne) and his eccentric but well-meaning grandfather Stan (Robert De Niro) – but Max can’t help but feel like his son should live life outside of the confines of New York, at least for a trip. Max, who is a stand-up comedian, gets word that Jimmy Kimmel wants to book him on his show, decides to take Ezra on a road trip to get out of the confines of the city.

There are elements of Ezra that I find to be endearing and admirable, as well as things that truly frustrate me about it. To start with the positives, I think the performances across the board are really great. Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Robert De Niro are all great actors who have proven their abilities time and time again – but they truly feel like a family here, and it makes all the character-based drama feel all the more genuine. William A. Fitzgerald really shines here as Ezra, and his chemistry with Bobby Cannavale feels incredibly authentic. A believable chemistry between the performers playing father and son is essential in this type of film, and the two do a great job together and are easily the heart of the film. There’s a pure love that is felt in every scene between them; love that also comes with frustration and honesty between the two.

Adding to the layers of the film, another element that I found to be quite effective is how it taps into the idea of generational trauma between parents and children, and how that goes past Ezra and Max and into Max’s relationship with his father Stan. There are a lot of solid moments that tie the three men together in an emotional way, and it feels very true to life; the way you were brought up both informs your parenting styles as well as makes you wary and self-critical about how good of a job you’re doing; eager to not make the same mistakes that were made in your childhood.

My frustrations with Ezra don’t necessarily lie within Tony Goldwyn’s direction and especially not within the performances which I think are truly great across the board, but instead within the screenplay. While the film luckily never feels insensitive nor melodramatic within its portrayals of autism, which many other films that focus on the topic can fall into, it simply loses me a lot with how impractical and down-right stupid a lot of character decision are – namely from Bobby Cannavale’s character Max. Without spoiling anything specifically about the film, he makes a choice that leads to a domino effect of another choice that could potentially get the character in loads of trouble… and the character feels so unrealistic and sometimes, frankly, selfish within what he’s trying to accomplish.

I’m all for films with morally grey characters or characters that make genuine mistakes, regardless of whether or not they learn from them. I also understand that the film is trying to convey that the love a parent has for their child outweighs logic – but there is still a limit to where it feels believable and genuinely human within its screenplay, and this film constantly feels the need to dumb down the character of Max to make the plot mechanics happen. This unfortunately undermines a lot of the solid drama and emotion on display, despite the fact that Bobby Cannavale is doing his best with the material given to him.

While these plot mechanics and writing decisions don’t necessarily make the film a complete disaster, it feels like it unfortunately outshines the rest of the film that feels both well-intentioned and full of both a cast and crew who truly care. By the end, Ezra will definitely have an audience and I truly hope it helps families feel seen in ways they haven’t been on screen before; there are just too many issues with the screenplay for me to fully give it a pass and it feels ultimately like a mixed bag, regardless of its pure intentions.

2.5/5