[Rating: Minor Rock Fist Up]
A comedian, his child and an accidental kidnapping walk into a bar. Stop me if you’ve heard this one! You probably haven’t because I can’t really recall any plot as similar to this one found in the new film Ezra. Directed by actor Tony Goldwyn and written by Tony Spiridakis, inspired by his own son Ezra is a decent family dramedy that shows the lengths a father will go to connect with his child who already faces challenges of their own.
Max Brandel (Bobby Cannavale) is a stand up comedian living with his father Stan (Robert De Niro) and co-parenting with his ex-wife Jenna (Rose Byrne). Their son Ezra (William Fitzgerald) has autism and his way of life among his peers at school and relationship with Max challenge the relationship of Max and Ezra. Max wants what’s best for his child, as does Jenna, but Max wants to ensure that Ezra can live life to the fullest. When Max’s agent (Whoopi Goldberg) tells him that Jimmy Kimmel wants him on his show, Max wants to set off on a cross country journey to possibly make him a name on national TV.
One night, Ezra overhears mom and her boyfriend (Tony Goldwyn) joking and saying they want to kill Max. As Ezra takes things seriously, he runs away to Max, and tells him that mom is okay with driving to Los Angeles. However, what starts as a bonding road trip turns into an accidental kidnapping. Soon, Jenna and Stan are on their own road trip to find Max and Ezra, but also discover that maybe this could be a special trip for the father and son.
Ezra was a cute movie. I loved the bonding between Max and Ezra. Max doesn’t know much about autism and therefore cannot connect to his son, as much as he wants to. He has to deal with his own life and troubles of making a name for himself before he can actually look at his own at-home concerns. The one person who seems to understand Ezra the most is Stan, who loves him and champions him.
Really, Ezra is a safe movie. It doesn’t really do much new and follows the many tropes of a road movie with numerous sappy moments and revelations of self discovery. Throw in bonding with a child and coming of age scenarios for young Ezra and you have yourself a pretty standard flick. Stay around for the credits for a hilarious moment between Max and Jimmy Kimmel that had me with the biggest grin.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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