Ezra (played by newcomer William A Fitzgerald), is a young autistic boy who has been acting out and causing chaos at school and worry at home for his mother Jenna (played by Rose Byrne). Finally, a doctor and courts step in and orders that Ezra must go to a special school for kids with special needs. His father Max (played by Bobby Cannavale) is dead against this and goes to his ex-wife Jenna’s home and kidnaps Ezra and goes on the run. Trying to protect his son Max from the law, his father Stan (played by Robert DeNiro) convinces his former daughter in law Jenna to accompany him as they go in pursuit and try to track down the father/son duo.

There’s a lot to like about this movie- for instance, the actor who plays Ezra, (Fitzgerald) himself is also autistic. I’m not of the belief that characters that belong to a certain group (for example disabled, LGBTQ, etc.) absolutely needs to be played by people truly belonging to that group. This is what acting is- you are growing your acting chops by pretending to be someone else. BUT with that said, I DO believe that, if possible, it should happen, if a member of that group truly is perfect for the role. I do believe that members of minority groups do not get as many opportunities as their nondisabled, straight counterparts. And that should be taken into consideration, and that they should be given first opportunity to audition for the part. But say you have 4 people try out- and 3 can’t act at all, but one is really good. And that person just happens to not be a member of that group shouldn’t be an issue if you aren’t able to find someone else.

Anyway, I apologize for going off on a tangent there- but in this case, the fact they were able to find the perfect person to play Ezra who acts very well and is truly autistic bodes very well for this movie. He did a great job. The whole cast did. There are funny parts, there are tender parts, and a wild part that has to do with an interaction between Robert DeNiro and Rainn Wilson who plays Max’s best friend Nicky. Early on his career, DeNiro was known for his tough as nails characters, but he has skilled at evolving into a father and grandfatherly roles very well. I still enjoy seeing movies with him in it. I have not seen a lot of stuff recently with Cannavale, but he is a skilled actor and I first saw him in one of my favorite police/Fire/EMS dramas, Third Watch, where he played a FDNY paramedic. Byrne is great at the worried mother roles (think of Instant Family for instance).

The only downside to the movie is that I felt like the ending could have been better. It wasn’t bad, but it felt rushed, like they ran out of time and had to find a way to wrap things up quick. Try to tie everything up in a neat bow with minutes to go. And I feel like they tried to make up for that a bit with a funny brief clip mid the rolling of credits.

So overall, I say it’s a decent movie to watch, I enjoyed it.