THE UNBREAKABLE BOY: 2 STARS. “winds its way to a feel good, happy ending.”
SYNOPSIS: Based on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name, “The Unbreakable Boy,” a new family drama now playing on theatres, is the true story of how Austin LeRette, a boy born with autism and Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, transforms his parent’s world. “I wish I could enjoy anything as much as my son enjoys everything.”
CAST: Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell, Patricia Heaton. Directed by Jon Gunn.
REVIEW: At one point in “An Unbreakable Boy” Austin’s younger brother Logan (Gavin Warren) accuses a schoolmate of being “a cliché,” but he could be talking about any of the movie’s characters.
Given Austin’s various conditions the story is somewhat unique, but the situations surrounding the character are not. It feels like a series of platitudes cobbled together to garner maximum emotional impact as it winds its way to a feel good, happy ending.
Father Scott (Zachary Levi) is an alcoholic, drinking away his career while opening up a schism within the family. Mother Teresa (Meghann Fahy) is frustrated, prone to tears and lashing out. Both characters exist as a reaction to the boy’s diseases, and how they shape the family’s dynamic, rather than being about the boy himself.
It is the much more common story about a man and his moral failings as a husband and a father—“This is not what I thought it would be like,” Scott says. “I feel like I’m failing every day. And the harder I try the worse I do. I can’t seem to figure him out.”—than it is the story of Austin triumphs.
It’s also an example of how tough it is to convincingly play drunk on camera. It’s not about lurching about and slurred speech, it’s about doing your best to not appear drunk. Scott’s alcoholism, like so many other things in the film, is heightened for cinematic effect, which blunts the power of it.
“An Unbreakable Boy” presents as a look at a child with unique needs but is more about the effect Austin has on the family than Austin itself. What could have been an interesting study of Austin’s world is, instead, a typical family drama content with skimming the surface.
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