Michael's Movie Grade: C
An okay but very safe film.
As a person with autism myself, I would love to see a movie centering around a kid with autism that gives a realistic look at a day in the life of an autistic child. This is not that film, mostly because the autistic kid is not the main character. The main character is rather his father. This is not only unfortunate because it is not the movie, I was expecting but also because his troubles are probably the least interesting part of the film. His struggles with alcoholism and his marriage are full of clichés. There is nothing here that we have not seen a million times before and done in more interesting ways. It does not hurt that the character can often come off as kind of unlikable. Giving him an imaginary friend leads to some very cloying sentimentality that made me feel embarrassed to be watching this.
Yet the parts of this film that actually center around Austin (the autistic kid) are surprisingly quite good. This may not be the greatest representation of autism on the big screen, but he feels like a real kid. He is instantly likable, and, in some ways, we aspire to be more like him. I am glad that the filmmakers didn't go with the cliché of making the other kids not like him because he is different. I loved that the other kids actually liked and appreciated him. I also appreciate how this film doesn't suggest he needs to be fixed, and that autism is part of what makes him the wonderful person he is.
This is an okay film, but the filmmakers unfortunately spend too little time on what works and too much time on the least interesting aspects of the story.
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