The Unbreakable Boy

Movie The Unbreakable Boy directed by Jon Gunn is based on life of Austin (actor Jacob Laval ) his younger brother Logan (actor Gavin Warren) born to Teresa ( Meghann Fahy from the series Perfect Couple)and Scott (actor Zachary Levi). Teresa is blue eyed and has brittle bones ,symptoms of genetic disorder Osteogenesis imperfecta. Austin is born with brittle bones and also dx with Autism Austin loves his mom, dad and younger brother. Austin is capable of understanding and retaining information . Austin's constant banter at home and school is very well directed. His remarks made to Logan after Logan gets into a fight with Tyler have a big impact on family. Really enjoyed the pleasant interactions between father and son and also loving relationship and glances between Austin's mom and dad.

Screenplay is very realistic. Love filled home has a big impact on children's minds and is depicted very well. This movie is supposedly based on a true story of a family from Iowa . I am in awe of both mom and dad who showed love and honesty in a relationship can have healthy outcomes even if medical world and society label developmental delays.

I am glad i saw this movie which has reinforced importance of love in raising children to keep them stable and healthy.

Austin's happy thoughts and words in having his dad at home after dad loses his job and mom not having a job is extremely touching and realistic. There is no company better than a loving mom and dad as friends.

Good Editing. Good Direction. Excellent acting.

The Unbreakable Boy is a touching family drama based on a true story. The film explores important themes of resilience, illness, and unconditional parental love, yet it fails to fully develop them.

Pros: The story is inspiring, and the protagonist is likable.

Strong performances, particularly from Zachary Levi as the father.

A warm and uplifting atmosphere that highlights the power of family and support.

Cons: The plot is predictable, and the screenplay feels shallow at times.

Lacks depth in character development-despite its potential, the story never reaches its full emotional impact.

Overly sentimental in places, relying on clichés rather than genuine drama.

Overall, The Unbreakable Boy is a decent family drama, but it lacks originality and depth to leave a lasting impression. It's worth a watch but unlikely to stay with you for long.

I found this movie on DVD at my public library. Its rating seems a bit low, my wife and I found it enjoyable, interesting and entertaining. The end credits and extras include the real family depicted here.

Zachary Levi is Scott, working in pharmaceutical sales. One day he is at a clothing store and sees a pretty clerk. He stammers and manages to get her phone number.

The pretty clerk is Meghann Fahy as Teresa. They start dating and soon she calls him and says, "I'm pregnant." He eventually finds out other things, a function of not getting to know a person well before falling in love.

Anyway they have a baby boy, he seems healthy but cries a lot. They soon find he has inherited the brittle bone affliction from his mother and had some broken ribs during birth. In addition, as he gets older is diagnosed with autism.

All of this creates a slew of expensive problems for the family. Scott copes by drinking too much which exacerbates the problems. The movie is about their working through all the difficulties and achieving their own definition of happiness.

I will also make special mention of Jacob Laval who plays young autistic Austin as a 13yr old. While all the actors are good he elevates it to superb.

Good, worthwhile movie.

This is not about a boy. Which makes it feel practically like false advertisement, considering that the trailer suggests otherwise. In fact, I'd say that the trailer has covered most of the highlights where the boy was, indeed, the focus. There are only a couple more scenes besides that.

So what's the movie is about really? I think it tried to be about a couple, at first, but then it became more about the father, and mostly him. There is a reason for this "pivot", if you can call it that, but it did not feel fair, to be honest, since it made the story somewhat one-sided.

Even if that can still be acceptable, I can't say the movie has much impact. It felt shallow for the most part. A lot of stuff is being told, not really shown (not talking about narration), which does not help with establishing connection with either of the characters. Important topics are often times touched in somewhat cliched ways, too, but life is a cliche in itself, so that's not a failure in itself. It's just that darker themes still were "too bright", too "upbeat".

Perhaps the running time of a movie was the constraint here. The story is spanning multiple years, after all, and on paper it has quite a few situations, that should stir emotions. But due to lack of time there is simply not enough room to build up to them and dramatize them properly. I think it might have worked better as a TV show similar to TV adaptation of "About A Boy", where the story was also not really so much about a boy (contrary to the title), but about him building connection and changing lives of others, including his mother and neighbor.

Alas, that's not what we have. It's not a complete waste of time, but I do no think it delivers, what it set out to.

When I'm writing this 20% of the reviews are 1 star, which is insane. The only explanation is there are narrow minded people that only see Zac Levi's political comments and decided that was enough to trash the movie. I'm pretty sure they didn't even see it, because if they had then they defeated their intention because the $$ spent means more than the 1 star.

They also ignore all the other great actors who put in fantastic performances.

Jacob Laval puts in a stellar performance. His manic delivery of dialogue was wonderfully done as were his facial expressions. Pretty impressive for his age.

I had not seen Meghann Fahy before in a lead role, but now I'm going to be looking for things she's done in the past and future. She was rememberable in her performance as "T".

The supporting cast were excellent complement. Patricia Heaton and Amy Acker delivered as always performances that made scenes work.

I can only hope that people are wise enough to look at the rating distribution and realize there are haters and ignore the composite rating.