Prime Video; Cert 15
‘Standing Up’ was released in the US as ‘Ezra’
Max (Bobby Cannavale) tells jokes for a living. It’s a tough job, and the comedian role doesn’t always suit him, but there are plenty of stories to tell. Stories, for instance, about his divorce from Jenna (Rose Byrne), or about his father, Stan (Robert De Niro), who works as a hotel doorman.
His favourite subject, however, is his autistic son Ezra (William Fitzgerald). Max idolises Ezra – the boy is his good-luck charm, and he only wants what’s best for him, even if it sometimes means breaking the law. That’s exactly what happens when Max assaults a doctor and takes off in the middle of the night with his son on some hare-brained cross-country road trip to Los Angeles.
An unusual twist there, and Standing Up occasionally struggles with it. Tony Goldwyn directs from a witty screenplay by Tony Spiridakis, and this bumpy, big-hearted film employs a cast of charming heavy hitters to paper over the cracks.
Cannavale, a performer who rarely does things by halves, delivers a commendable turn as a clumsy dad who thinks he’s doing a good thing – but De Niro steals the show as the compassionate grandfather, determined to right the wrongs of the past.
Three stars
This post was originally published on here
