Sometimes, one of the shrewdest things a movie can do is to have its hero act in a way that’s not heroic or admirable or even very likable. In “ Ezra ,” Max Bernal ( Bobby Cannavale ), a stand-up comedian with a chip on his shoulder (he used to write for late night; now he performs edgy sets in places like the Comedy Cellar), is in a state of confused fury over what to do about his son, Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald), an owlish 11-year-old who’s autistic.
Ezra attends public school in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he acts out, gets bullied, and responds to people on his own brainy but disconnected wavelength. His autistic behaviors aren’t particularly severe. He speaks in arcane pop-culture quotes, he’s scared that metal silverware will hurt his mouth, and he refuses to look you in the eye or allow himself to be hugged.
More and more, though, he’s failing to fit in. The administrators are recommending that he be transferred to a school for special-needs students. Max, seated in the principal’s office along with his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Jenna ( Rose Byrne ), doesn’t want to hear about it.
He accuses the physician who would like to put Ezra on Risperdal of being a “drug dealer,” and when the doctor responds by saying that it’s clear where Ezra gets his difficult temperament from, Max assaults him. And that’s the least of his bad decisions. Slapped with a restraining order, which forbids him from seeing his son for three months, Max sneaks into Jenna’s hous.
