{"id":11203,"date":"2025-02-22T18:30:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T23:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11203"},"modified":"2025-03-09T18:56:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T22:56:35","slug":"the-unbreakable-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/02\/22\/the-unbreakable-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unbreakable Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (strong thematic material, alcohol abuse, language, some violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jon Gunn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jon Gunn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Pancho Burgos-Goizueta\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kristopher Kimlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 21, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell, Gavin Warren, Amy Acker, Peter Facinelli, Patricia Heaton, Todd Terry, Pilot Bunch.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The inspirational drama The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong> was supposed to come out three years ago, but Lionsgate pulled it off the schedule without explanation eight days before its release. I kept wondering when it hit theaters. It finally has and I\u2019m pleased to report it\u2019s a good movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by Jon Gunn (Ordinary Angels), The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong> is based on a true story about a boy named Austin (Laval, The Plot Against America), Auz Man to everybody he meets. Austin suffers from a disease called osteogenesis imperfecta aka brittle bone disease. It means his bones break easily. He also has autism. He talks non-stop and takes joy in practically everything. He lives and loves life to the fullest. It\u2019s he who narrates his story which starts with his parents\u2019 brief courtship and goes from there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Scott LeRette (Levi, Shazam 1 & 2) first meets Teresa (Fahy, The White Lotus) at the clothing store where she works. He\u2019s immediately smitten by her blue eyes and awkwardly asks her out. Before they hit date number four, she calls to tell him she\u2019s pregnant. Soon after they move in together, she drops another bombshell. Her blue eyes aren\u2019t exactly a blessing. They\u2019re actually symptomatic of OI which is a genetic disorder. Sadly, Austin inherits it. The boy keeps a count of how many bone breaks he\u2019s had in his 13 years. It\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It isn\u2019t until after their second son Logan is born that Scott and Theresa start to realize something else isn\u2019t quite right with Austin. He displays the classic signs of autism- e.g. obsessively counting his toy planes, emotional outbursts and getting lost in his own world. But Austin is one of those kids who\u2019s always positive about everything. It doesn\u2019t seem to bother him that he\u2019s different. In fact, he embraces it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Austin\u2019s issues weigh heavily on his parents, Scott in particular. He takes up drinking. He drinks a lot, too much. He loses his job as a medical equipment salesman. The family loses their home. Eventually, his drinking puts the lives of his kids at risk. Fed up, Theresa sends him packing. He has a lot of self-work and self-healing to do if he wants to get his life back.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I suppose the second thing you want to know about The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong> is how religious it is. While it does contain religious material (e.g. a humorous trip to church, AA meetings), it doesn\u2019t get all preachy nor does it shame non-Christians. It\u2019s just a nice movie with a positive message about overcoming adversity and loving life no matter what it throws at you. Additionally, Gunn manages a mostly even balance of serious and funny. It never gets too heavy-handed or too silly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s some more good news about The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong>. It\u2019s never condescending towards its main character. It doesn\u2019t portray Auz Man solely as a figure whose only function is to inspire everyone around him even though he definitely does that. He\u2019s a kid with challenges trying to navigate a world that isn\u2019t always accepting of those who are different. In the role, Laval does a phenomenal job. Some might think he overplays it, but that\u2019s not the case here. Austin is a kid with a big personality; it only makes sense for Laval to play it big.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Levi is one of those actors I can\u2019t take seriously. He plays a lot of goofy characters like the adult version of the title character in last year\u2019s misguided Harold and the Purple Crayon. He\u2019s actually pretty good in The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong>. Scott is a selfish, irresponsible type incapable of taking accountability for his many mistakes. He prioritizes playing golf at his country club over paying his son\u2019s medical expenses. He often holds conversations with his best friend Joe (Powell, Gotham) who\u2019s actually imaginary. It\u2019s not Oscar-level stuff, but it\u2019s a big step up from Shazam. Take the win, Zach.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fahy is also quite good as the mother who always has to be the adult in the room. She has a family history of alcoholism and doesn\u2019t want to go through it with her husband. She has to get tough for her children\u2019s sake. Gavin Warren (Night Swim) doesn\u2019t fine work as the younger sibling who has to play big brother\/protector to Austin. He loves his brother, but you can see it weighs on him. He\u2019s a kind soul who befriends the bully that\u2019s been picking on him and mocking Austin. It\u2019s one of the sweetest scenes in the film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Granted, The Unbreakable Boy<\/strong> is cliched and predictable from start to finish. That\u2019s okay. We don\u2019t always need surprises or tricky plot twists. Sometimes it\u2019s nice to watch a movie where you know the score going in. It\u2019s a film that proudly wears its heart on its sleeve. You\u2019ll laugh, shed a tear or two and leave the theater feeling uplifted and elevated. Is that really such a bad thing?\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unbreakable Boy (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (strong thematic material, alcohol abuse, language, some violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jon Gunn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jon Gunn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Pancho Burgos-Goizueta\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kristopher Kimlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 21, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell, Gavin Warren, Amy Acker, Peter Facinelli, Patricia Heaton, Todd Terry, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/The-Unbreakable-Boy-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11203"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11399,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203\/revisions\/11399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}