May 30, 2024
FILM: EZRA
DIRECTED BY: TONY GOLDWYN
STARRING: BOBBY CANNAVALE, ROBERT DE NIRO, ROSE BYRNE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
This may be the right and wrong season for Ezra, the new film from director Tony Goldwyn. It’s right because it is a powerful and moving story that centers on the lengths fathers will go to take care of their sons. With Father’s Day on the horizon this one is well worth seeing in the coming weeks. On the other hand, the performances are so strong that if released later in the year it could land Oscar nominations for lead Bobby Cannavale as Max, a comedian with an autistic son and Robert De Niro as Max’s father Stan who has his own flawed history as a parent. These early in the year performances often get forgotten by Oscar season but I’d put the film and the fine work done here with other well-received family-focused films such as The Descendants, Silver Linings Playbook, and Marriage Story.
We are introduced to Max right from the get go as a comedian who is divorced, drinks whiskey, cries, and lives with his father. He’s also a gruff hot head who plays by his own rules. His autistic son Ezra (played by a very good William A. Fitzgerald) has been having some issues at school and his mother Jenna, played by Rose Byrne, is looking to transfer him to a school for autistic children. Jenna and Max don’t quite see eye to eye on this or many other issues. Max wants Ezra in the “regular” world. When an incident occurs that puts all in jeopardy, Max decides to take Ezra on a road trip across the country.
What Goldwyn and writer Tony Spiridakis seem to be exploring is the important role a parent plays in caring for their child. Should they follow along with the rules of the “system” or take matters into their own hands when things go awry? Old school Stan thinks Ezra just needs to learn how to physically fight his way out of a conflict (something that calls to mind De Niro’s own Oscar-winning role of prize fighter Jake La Motta in Raging Bull over 40 years ago.) Is this the right way to handle it? Max is caught between the “right” way to do things and his own paternal instincts to handle Ezra his own way. The film suggests that there might be too much parenting being done by outside forces today, such as social services and the country’s legal system. Whose role should it be?
The biggest success of the film though is in its depiction of the family relationships. Cannavale and young Fitzgerald have solid rapport that calls to mind some of the warmth between Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer. Yet, Cannavale creates his own original character and commands the screen with his strong emotive skills. He has charisma that makes it hard to look away when he’s on screen. He also more than meets De Niro’s decades long film acting talents. He is a bit softer here than Cannavale in a role that is closer to his work in Silver Linings Playbook than his recent Oscar-nominated turn in Killers of the Flower Moon. He’s playing a character that has lived and owns the mistakes he made as a father. It’s a pretty tender and heartfelt performance.
One of the other great pleasures of this film is its ensemble cast featured in smaller roles. There’s Whoopi Goldberg, Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson, and director Tony Goldwyn as Emma’s current boyfriend. They’re all very good and each contribute something significant, and often very amusing, to the narrative.
The tone of the film is light on comedy with a few dramatic moments. But more than anything else, it offers a story for adults that moves at a comfortable speed and has enough heart-tugging moments to take viewers on an entertaining and emotional journey. This is the kind of film that Hollywood used to make pretty regularly (right up through the time the aforementioned Silver Linings Playbook was made.) It’s one of the more enjoyable and human-centered films I’ve seen so far this year.
Ezra opens theatrically this week.
FILM: EZRA
DIRECTED BY: TONY GOLDWYN
STARRING: BOBBY CANNAVALE, ROBERT DE NIRO, ROSE BYRNE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
This may be the right and wrong season for Ezra, the new film from director Tony Goldwyn. It’s right because it is a powerful and moving story that centers on the lengths fathers will go to take care of their sons. With Father’s Day on the horizon this one is well worth seeing in the coming weeks. On the other hand, the performances are so strong that if released later in the year it could land Oscar nominations for lead Bobby Cannavale as Max, a comedian with an autistic son and Robert De Niro as Max’s father Stan who has his own flawed history as a parent. These early in the year performances often get forgotten by Oscar season but I’d put the film and the fine work done here with other well-received family-focused films such as The Descendants, Silver Linings Playbook, and Marriage Story.
We are introduced to Max right from the get go as a comedian who is divorced, drinks whiskey, cries, and lives with his father. He’s also a gruff hot head who plays by his own rules. His autistic son Ezra (played by a very good William A. Fitzgerald) has been having some issues at school and his mother Jenna, played by Rose Byrne, is looking to transfer him to a school for autistic children. Jenna and Max don’t quite see eye to eye on this or many other issues. Max wants Ezra in the “regular” world. When an incident occurs that puts all in jeopardy, Max decides to take Ezra on a road trip across the country.
What Goldwyn and writer Tony Spiridakis seem to be exploring is the important role a parent plays in caring for their child. Should they follow along with the rules of the “system” or take matters into their own hands when things go awry? Old school Stan thinks Ezra just needs to learn how to physically fight his way out of a conflict (something that calls to mind De Niro’s own Oscar-winning role of prize fighter Jake La Motta in Raging Bull over 40 years ago.) Is this the right way to handle it? Max is caught between the “right” way to do things and his own paternal instincts to handle Ezra his own way. The film suggests that there might be too much parenting being done by outside forces today, such as social services and the country’s legal system. Whose role should it be?
The biggest success of the film though is in its depiction of the family relationships. Cannavale and young Fitzgerald have solid rapport that calls to mind some of the warmth between Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer. Yet, Cannavale creates his own original character and commands the screen with his strong emotive skills. He has charisma that makes it hard to look away when he’s on screen. He also more than meets De Niro’s decades long film acting talents. He is a bit softer here than Cannavale in a role that is closer to his work in Silver Linings Playbook than his recent Oscar-nominated turn in Killers of the Flower Moon. He’s playing a character that has lived and owns the mistakes he made as a father. It’s a pretty tender and heartfelt performance.
One of the other great pleasures of this film is its ensemble cast featured in smaller roles. There’s Whoopi Goldberg, Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson, and director Tony Goldwyn as Emma’s current boyfriend. They’re all very good and each contribute something significant, and often very amusing, to the narrative.
The tone of the film is light on comedy with a few dramatic moments. But more than anything else, it offers a story for adults that moves at a comfortable speed and has enough heart-tugging moments to take viewers on an entertaining and emotional journey. This is the kind of film that Hollywood used to make pretty regularly (right up through the time the aforementioned Silver Linings Playbook was made.) It’s one of the more enjoyable and human-centered films I’ve seen so far this year.
Ezra opens theatrically this week.