At The Movies: Autism family drama Ezra resonates with parents, Greedy People a Coens brothers copy

Ezra (NC16)

101 minutes, opens on Oct 10
★★★☆☆

The story: Struggling comedian Max (Bobby Cannavale) and ex-wife Jenna (Rose Byrne) are a New York couple clashing over how best to raise their son, who is autistic.

The 11-year-old of the title, who recoils at physical contact and speaks in movie quotes, is expelled from school for disrupting class. Protective dad Max bristles at the suggestion of an alternative education and the anti-psychotic meds prescribed. He punches the paediatrician, then abducts Ezra (William Fitzgerald) from Jenna’s custody on a cross-country escape.

The Hollywood production Ezra is a broad-appeal family dramedy that entertains while remaining sensitive to its very real issue: One in every 36 children in the United States is reportedly on the autism spectrum.

Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis was inspired by his experience with his son who has autism, and director Tony Goldwyn (Scandal, 2012 to 2018) – he has the bit part of Jenna’s boyfriend – hired neurodivergent crew members for authenticity.

Most laudable is the discovery of Fitzgerald, a teen who has autism, for the lead in a big-name ensemble comprising married co-stars Cannavale and Byrne, as well as Robert De Niro. He plays the cranky grandpa helping Jenna and the police chase down the fugitive pair.

The road trip is over-scripted with maudlin moments. But Cannavale and Fitzgerald create a convincing bond in a sincere story less about a child with special needs than about the strain, frustration and challenges of caring for one. Jenna trusts the experts; hotheaded Max does not.

There are no straightforward answers in their journey towards understanding Ezra on his own terms.

Hot take: This honest drama contributes to the current conversation on neurodivergence and will resonate with many parents.

Greedy People (M18)

113 minutes, opens on Oct 10
★★☆☆☆

The story: A murder and the discovery of a million dollars at the crime scene set off a spiral of bad decisions that upends a sleepy seaside hamlet.

The American noir caper Greedy People is like a second-rate Coen brothers farce. As directed by Potsy Ponciroli, it struggles to shake off the many comparisons, however fitfully amusing.

New-in-town Will Shelley (Himesh Patel) and his corrupt, boorish partner Terry Brogan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are the idiot cops. The former even has a heavily pregnant wife (Lily James), like the Billy Bob Thornton anti-hero of Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan (1998). Left on his own while Terry has a lunchtime quickie with a lover, Will responds to a mistaken emergency call and accidentally kills a housewife (Traci Lords) in her kitchen.

The two officers stage a robbery to cover their tracks, then steal the cash they find in the house.

Searching for his money is the deceased’s widower, a local seafood magnate played by Tim Blake Nelson who was in Ponciroli’s 2021 feature debut Old Henry, but remains an actor most associated with the Coens for O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). The cash was to have been payment for a contract on his wife so that he can marry his secretary-mistress (Nina Arianda).

A female police chief (Uzo Aduba) right out of the Coens’ Fargo (1996) is the only decent character amid the revolving cast of unsavoury buffoons who also include a pair of hitmen (Jose Maria Yazpik and Jim Gaffigan) and the victim’s masseur (Simon Rex).

Love and lust are really what turns these mislabelled “greedy people” into killers. The zany morality tale earns attention for how dark it goes as the bodies pile up.

Hot take: The black comedy has been done before and done better. Still, it has its surprises.