This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Amber Alert in the Big Apple
Plot Overview
Old man Stan (Robert De Niro)
was a low performing husband whose wife finally left him. Having then
failed at three chef positions he's now a doorman at a fine New York
establishment. His son Max Pernell (Bobby Cannavale) who lives with him is
a stand-up comedian at the local Comedy Cellar hoping to get a break with
the Jimmy Kimmel show out of L.A..
He's not yet the rage but he rages at the system. His estranged wife
Jenna (Rose Byrne) is divorcing him while living with her lawyer
boyfriend. The former couple's autistic son Ezra (William Fitzgerald)
exhibits advanced reading skills for his school grade but undeveloped
social skills. He's just gotten kicked out of a third elementary school
for his disruptive influence. Authorities want to put him in a special
school, but his parents demur (“You have family and they have
to answer to us.”) When the kid gets spooked and leaves his home
and then flees a barking dog to a narrow miss with a cab, Dr. Kaplan puts him on Risperdal and enrolls him
in a special day school. Hotheaded Max gets hit with a restraining
order but then spirits Ezra away with him, eventually to make his audition
for the Kimmel Show. It's a road trip of discovery.
Ideology
Here the sensitive boy and harried family encounter some triggered
conflicts à la, (Prov. 30:33)
“Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the
wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath
bringeth forth strife.” The idea in the proverb is that a state of peace and
conciliation can change to one of conflict just as a liquid (milk)
can change to solid (butter) through constant agitation (churning.)
Or hit a critical area (nose) and it bleeds. We see an ice cream treat
& a barroom punch. These principles are illustrated in the
movie when the dad being accustomed to but short visits with his son
takes him on the road where they will continually be on each other's
nerves. It's enough to make them lose it. There was also the earlier
incident when the literal minded autistic boy overheard his mom's
lawyer lover make an idle, sarcastic threat against Max, so he
precipitously tried to go warn him. That resulted in a chain of events
getting out of hand.
Production Values
“” (2023) was directed by Tony Goldwyn. It was written by Tony Spiridakis. It stars Bobby Cannavale, Robert De Niro and William A. Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald a child actor performed well the autistic kid without overplaying it. Cannavale also gave a good performance as a caring but beset father. Vera Farmiga and Whoopi Goldberg played supporting roles as well.
MPA rated it R for language, some sexual references and drug use. It has a good town and country mix. Runtime is 1 hour 40 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
During the travellers' visit to a mothballed parochial camp one of the skeleton crew remarks, (Romans 6:23) “the wages of sin is death.” That leaves us to fill in, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” a subtle gospel message. That hardly makes this a faith-based movie, but we'll take what we can get. It's family-friendly if we count hodgepodge families. It's touching showing the realization of a handicap's potential.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well, at least you can't see the strings. Video Occasion: Better than watching TV. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
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