Berlin. When Max Bernal (Bobby Cannavale) is on stage as a stand-up comedian at the New York Comedy Cellar, he lets it all out. He talks about his everyday problems, his divorce and his 11-year-old son Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald), who was born with an autism spectrum disorder. Max is very popular because he can find a sensitive punch line in all these difficult topics. Unfortunately, this is not reflected in his current booking situation since talk show king “Conan” banned him from his program.
After his separation, Max lives again with his grumpy father Stan (Robert De Niro), while Ezra lives with his ex Jenna (Rose Byrne) and her new lover Bruce (Tony Goldwyn). When the teachers at the child’s school are overwhelmed by his different nature, they even recommend a special facility. This thought is simply unbearable, especially for Max, who loves his son more than anything.
Then an accident happens. Ezra overhears a conversation that deeply disturbs him and flees the apartment in his pajamas. When a large dog barks at him, the boy is frightened and flees into the street, where he is hit by a taxi. Ezra gets off lightly in the accident, but after tests in the hospital he is told to take dubious psychotropic drugs as a ward of the state. Max, who is not actually allowed to see his son for three long months, kidnaps Ezra.
On the way, he receives a professional offer from his agent Jayne (Whoopi Goldberg) that he can’t refuse: He has been invited to the late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, a game changer for his struggling career. So what should he do? Together with his son, whom Max, as a weak personality, has always liked to use as a protective shield – “his lucky charm” – the duo sets off for Los Angeles.
Filmmaker Tony Goldwyn (“Betty Anne Waters”) is also a busy actor, most recently seen in “Oppenheimer.” His new work is a road movie, a gentle critique of psychomedicine, but above all a universally valid family story in which major mistakes threaten to be repeated. Yet “Ezra” is never overwhelmingly heavy, right up to the poignant end, but rather humorous and optimistic. Simply a beautiful film.
