Review: In the uplifting yet mundane 'The Unbreakable Boy,' a dad finally wises up

First, the bully quality astir “The Unbreakable Boy,” a household play based connected the 2014 memoir by Scott LeRette: Zachary Levi is yet acting his age. After a fewer high-profile childlike roles successful the “Shazam” movies and “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” it’s a alleviation to spot him arsenic an adult. The movie is besides a belated confirmation of Meghann Fahy’s perfectly bulletproof prima power. That had already been confirmed with her turns successful “The White Lotus,” “The Perfect Couple” and “The Bold Type” (if you were paying attention), but “The Unbreakable Boy” is simply a spot of a funny case: a relic from a play conscionable earlier her breakout.

Shot successful the wintertime of 2020, the movie was primitively slated for merchandise successful March 2022. Why it’s been aging connected a support astatine Lionsgate for 3 years is simply a mystery, but the faith-based movie yet hits theaters with the communicative of the LeRette household and their specific, if not unique, challenges astir raising a child, Austin (Jacob Laval), calved with some autism and a familial brittle-bone disease.

“The Unbreakable Boy” is adapted and directed by Jon Gunn, who has tackled different faith-based films drawn from existent stories, having directed “Ordinary Angels” and “The Case for Christ,” and produced “Jesus Revolution” and “I Still Believe.” His stock-in-trade is lightly inspirational life-affirming tales astir radical overcoming chiseled but relatable challenges, often done the assistance of their ain religion oregon spiritual community. The stories are ne'er each that bonzer oregon shocking, but much quotidian, community-based and family-oriented, and “The Unbreakable Boy” is conscionable that.

The movie starts successful medias res, with Scott (Levi) getting drunk astatine a New Year’s Eve bash astatine the state nine and past driving location with his 2 boys, Logan (Gavin Warren) and Austin, successful the car. The galore communicative devices that the movie employs — including an elliptical framing structure, Austin’s voice-over narration and adjacent an imaginary person — are wholly excessively cute by half. They’re utilized to effort to marque this alternatively straightforward and, atrocious to say, unremarkable communicative look arsenic if it’s much absorbing than it really is.

In “The Unbreakable Boy,” Scott is simply a distracted, easy overwhelmed dad, often resulting successful Austin breaking a bony (there’s a moving tally of injuries). Much of the movie is acrophobic with Scott struggling to negociate his son’s aesculapian issues and escaped spirit, utilizing intoxicant to cope. Eventually, with the assistance of his church, Alcoholics Anonymous and his wife, Teresa (Fahy), Scott learns to displacement his mindset successful bid to not conscionable judge Austin but unrecorded his beingness much similar his son: afloat contiguous and unencumbered by societal expectations. It’s a bully sentiment, if not particularly revelatory.

Gunn directs the movie successful the aesthetic of a nighttime household TV drama. It’s serviceable, invisible, and helium adds a fewer stylistic quirks, similar the broken-bone tally successful a childish font oregon a fewer animated sequences successful bid to correspond however Austin “sees” the world. Levi and Fahy don’t person overmuch chemistry, though the communicative of their accelerated courtship doesn’t let overmuch clip for any. Their large admittance is that they “might” emotion each other.

Levi plays Scott arsenic somewhat smarmy and disingenuous — it’s hard to consciousness for this feline erstwhile helium seems perfectly clueless astir his ain kids. Fahy carries the movie successful her supporting role, an acting imbalance that seems weirdly apt for this story: the supportive, susceptible woman sidelined successful favour of showcasing the inept hubby getting himself unneurotic and presenting it arsenic meaningful oregon poignant. This mightiness beryllium important to the LeRette family, but the existent conflict present is trying to link with this movie beyond a wan appreciation that a begetter yet learned however to emotion his lad for who helium is. Good for him, I guess?

Katie Walsh is simply a Tribune News Service movie critic.