Ezra

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Ezra
• a review of Ezra completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 13 August 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

When his autistic son Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald) is expelled from yet another school, and is prescribed anti-psychotic drugs that he doesn’t believe his child should take, stand-up comedian Max Bernal (Bobby Cannavale) decides to take matters into his own hands. He sneaks into the house his ex-wife Jenna (Rose Byrne) shares with her new boyfriend and, late one night, abducts Ezra. Max believes that Ezra needs time and connection, but not drugs. Max believes that Ezra needs to learn to be a part of the world, not separate from it, and he takes his son on a journey to visit an old friend named Nick (Rainn Wilson). While on the road, Max gets a call from his manager Jayne (Whoopi Goldberg) telling him that he has been offered a spot on the Jimmy Kemmel show but he needs to be in LA by the following week. Max agrees and sets off with Ezra. He soon discovers there is a nationwide amber alert and that he is wanted for kidnapping. Doing his best to keep his son safe, Max enlists the help of old friends to help him get to LA and, in the process, Ezra develops in ways Max could never have imagined. Meanwhile, Jenna and Max’s father Stan (Robert De Niro) are following their own leads in an effort to reach Ezra and Max before the authorities do.

Children with special needs, specifically Autism; Divorce; Family Breakdown; Abandonment issues; Intergenerational trauma.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Max recalls the time Stan knocked down a guy because his steak was overcooked.
• Jenna’s boyfriend makes a threat about killing Max, and Ezra believes that the man might kill his dad.
• There is reference made to Max kicking Conan O’Brian in the balls.
• Max gets very angry at a doctor. He yells at him, then grabs and shoves him in a threatening manner. He is arrested and winds up in jail.
• Ezra hits himself repeatedly in the head when he believes he made a mistake.
• Max refers to his inner child having a gun.
• Ezra bites a woman on the arm.
• Max roughs-up a bar owner and his wife.
• Jenna takes a blunt knife and holds it to Nick’s throat.
• Stan slaps Nick in the head.
• There is reference to Stan hitting or hurting Max when he was a child.
• Stan tells Max to do whatever it takes not to hit his son. He tells him to bite his arms off or tie himself to a tree if he has to.

Material that may scare or disturb children

• Nothing further noted for this age group.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Ezra hears his mother and her boyfriend talking one night and listens as the boyfriend mentions knowing a man who could “cut off Max’s head and feed him to the fishes.” Ezra is horrified and rushes out of his house to go and warn his dad. He is on the way to the subway when he is scared by a dog and rushes into the street where it looks as if he has been hit by a car. It turns out to be a near miss but Ezra is shown in a hospital bed and is clearly distraught.
• While trying to avoid a checkpoint, Max drives into the woods where he accidentally damages his car and Ezra is momentarily lost in the darkness. Max is freaking out and calling to his son but Ezra doesn’t answer and the woods spread out around them. He finds Ezra but is so upset that he nearly hits him. Ezra yells at him, calling him out on his behaviour and Max is very upset by how close he came to hurting his son.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Risperdal is shown and promoted by the hospital.
• There are repeated references to Rice Krispies, including the iconic characters, ‘Snap, Crackle and Pop’.
• Costco is mentioned.
• There is reference to The Conan O’Brian Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Stan asks: “Who cries after fucking a stranger?”
• Max does a routine involving jokes about lesbians.
• A character who wants to be a nun tells Max she has a crush on his son but that it’s ok because she hasn’t taken her vows yet.
• Nick tells Max that his new gig: “beats telling dick jokes to drunken tourists.”
• Max tells a woman he will: “Knock the cock out of her mouth.”
• Ezra says: “I’m going to die a virgin.”

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Max is sitting on the end of a bed crying. He has a blanket wrapped around his hips but his legs and chest are bare. There is a woman lying in the bed behind him who wakes to the sound of his sobs, asks if he is crying and then begins putting on her bra.
• Ezra’s bare chest is shown as he plays with his tummy.
• Ezra is shown with a bare chest and arms after Max pulls him from a bathtub where his arms were burning from the hot water.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• One character asks if he can buy another character a drink.
• Ezra sits at a bar and orders a White Russian. The woman sitting beside him tells the bartender to make it a virgin White Russian and Ezra winds up ordering a pineapple juice.
• Max is shown smoking a joint right before he goes on stage to perform his comedic routine. When he finishes his set, Ezra gets one whiff of him and begins to chant: “Max is stoned. Max is stoned.”
• Max and Nick smoke a bong.
• Nick and Max drink beer together on a couple of occasions.
• Nick tells Max that Stan “ruined his high.”

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Bitch, bitches
• Fuck, Fucking, fuck you
• Shit, bullshit
• Retard
• Little prick
• Ass, asshole
• Moron
• Crap
• Jesus Christ!
• Jerk
• Freak
• Idiot.

In a nutshell

Ezra is a poignant drama full of powerful performances and raw comedy that shines a light on some aspects of neurodivergence. Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis shares an authentic story that he wrote based upon life with his own autistic son, who is portrayed by an actor with autism. Due to the coarse language, sexual references, themes and drug use, this is not a family film but rather one that is most suited to viewers aged 17 and older.

The main messages from this movie are that life should not be about changing or fixing your child, it should be about getting to know them, to appreciate them, and allowing them to be who they truly are.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Compassion
• Courage
• Forgiveness
• Love
• Tolerance and Understanding.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• (Blindly) medicating children. Parents could discuss the pros and cons of using antipsychotics to address symptoms of neurodivergence. Are there any other methods that could work just as well?
• Kidnapping a child, even when it is done out of love and a desire to protect.
• Using drugs before doing something that makes you nervous.
• Labelling kids or making assumptions about them before you know who they are.
• The film could also provide parents with an opportunity to talk about compassion and understanding and how certain things affect people differently, specifically in relation to Autism. Parents could look at ways to navigate relationships and perhaps even strategies to include those who don’t know how to include themselves.