The Unbreakable Boy movie review (2025) – Roger Ebert

ReviewsWhen we become parents, we discover a reservoir of endless, unconditional love. Then, we discover that accompanying it is a gigantic reservoir of worry about the inevitable physical and emotional pain ahead of them, which is a part of growing up and living in the world. We learn over and over that we cannot always protect our children. It is awful every time, more painful than if whatever it is happened to us. One father who has a lot to worry about is named Scott LeRette (Zachary Levi), whose son, Austin, nicknamed Aus-Man (Jacob Laval), approaches one of life’s most traumatic experiences, middle school. Austin has osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disease that makes his bones fragile. His ribs were broken as he was being born. As he was learning to stand and walk, he broke several more. Austin also has autism, which in his case presents as non-stop talking and unquenchable ebullience, reflecting his inability to read many social cues. Scott slows down the car to get ready to drop Austin on the first day of school, and we see that Austin, who loves hats, is wearing his favorite, a Renaissance-style multi-colored jester hat with bells. We viscerally understand why Scott is very worried about how the other kids in Austin’s class are going to respond to him. “The Unbreakable Boy” is based on LeRette’s book about his family, and we see updates and family photos over the end credits. The movie is a very sincere and good-hearted adaptation, but it loses focus by trying to include too many elements of the real-life story. The best parts of the film are from Austin’s perspective. He immediately captures our affection with his introduction of the family story, accompanied by some child-like drawings. Austin tells us how Scott was captivated by Teresa’s (Meghann Fahy) luminous blue eyes as soon as he saw her behind the cash register at a clothing store. He describes their first three dates, clearly a family origin story that he has heard many times. And he cheerfully explains that before they could schedule a fourth date, Teresa called Scott to tell him she was pregnant. Things escalated very quickly as they move in together and get ready for the baby. It turns out Teresa’s unusual eyes are a symptom of a genetic disease she may pass on to the baby, osteogenesis imperfecta. And yet, no one checks Austin for it at the hospital and it is not until he starts breaking bones as a toddler that they discover his previous breaks. And it is not until they have a second son, Logan (Gavin Warren) who meets the typical milestones, that they begin to understand that Austin has autism. Laval is excellent, and we can see how endearing and exhausting, but mostly endearing, Austin is. Indeed, we miss him whenever the story veers away from him. He is always completely in the moment, and he sees the best in everyone, so he is constantly appreciative and grateful. You’ve never seen anyone as thrilled by a strawberry milkshake as Austin is.Too often, stories about people with disabilities portray them as one-dimensional characters whose reason for being in the story is to inspire other characters and teach them important life lessons about courage and resilience. Despite Levi’s always-likeable screen presence, Scott’s drinking too much, losing his job, confiding in an imaginary friend (an agreeable performance by Drew Powell), and risking his marriage are just not as interesting as experiencing Austin’s perspective on the world and the world’s response to him. The one issue that could have used more attention is the impact on Logan. Developmentally typical siblings of disabled children often feel that they have to be perfect and they often feel neglected. We do see Logan show exceptional loyalty and compassion. But it would tell us a lot more about Teresa and Scott as parents to see how they care for Logan rather than seeing Teresa pour Scott’s liquor down the sink and throw him out of the house.Scott’s mother (Patricia Heaton) abruptly goes from dish-breaking rage when she finds out her son’s new girlfriend is pregnant to a corny lesson about kintsugi, the Japanese method of repairing broken pottery with gold to show the beauty in imperfection. That’s an odd metaphor for Scott’s imperfection as it glosses over the need for genuine repair work in relationships that have been damaged by alcohol or neglect. It is an even odder choice for a movie about an “unbreakable” child who is more than fine with who he is, with no repair of any kind needed apart from a temporary cast or two. Look at the title. This is supposed to be a movie about Austin, right? Now streaming on:Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

Source: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-unbreakable-boy-movie-review-2025