The Unbreakable Boy is a remarkable coming-of-age film for both father and son, highlighting the joys and challenges that accompany raising a child with disabilities. The movie is based on a true story (Scott LeRette’s memoir The Unbreakable Boy: A Father’s Fear, a Son’s Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love), so the plot elements including autism, brittle bone syndrome, alcoholism and financial struggles aren’t contrived. It all comes together in an authentic, wonderfully inspirational family film.
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The story starts with enthusiastic narration by The Unbreakable Boy himself, 13-year-old Austin (Jacob Laval), who starts by telling us “true facts” about some of his favorite things. He introduces his parents Scott (Zachary Levi) and Teresa (Megan Fahy) with moments from their courtship, including an awkward meet-cute with Scott making a fool of himself by offering to purchase eight identical pairs of pants at the clothing store where Teresa works.
The audience is soon made aware that Austin suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone syndrome, which results in his suffering broken bones from the slightest of accidents (even his birth resulted in broken ribs). He is eventually diagnosed on the autism spectrum, manifesting itself in behaviors such as insistence on routine, social challenges and hypersensitivity. His hyperactive imagination is well visualized in scenes where he imagines flying with his father while on a swing set and imagining a kite turning into an animated dragon. There’s a darker side as well, when Austin suddenly erupts in a violent episode that results in him being hospitalized before it’s discovered that he was having a bad reaction to his medications. The movie also spends some time featuring Austin’s brother Logan (Drew Powell) and Scott’s parents as well, showing how disability impacts the entire family.
Both parents are trying their best, but the strain inevitably takes a toll on their relationship, especially when Scott begins abusing alcohol. But thanks to a loving and accepting church congregation and the friendship of a down-to-earth pastor going through his own brokenness (Peter Facinelli, who also produced), Scott turns to God after hitting rock-bottom and ends up learning from his “unbreakable boy” how to experience gratitude and joy even under challenging circumstances.
The Unbreakable Boy is an inspiring story about a breakable family overcoming the odds through faith in an unbreakable God.
Release date: Friday, Feb. 21
Cast: Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell, Peter Facinelli, Patricia Heaton, Amy Acker, Gavin Warren, Pilot Bunch
Director-screenwriter: Jon Gunn
Rated PG, 1 hour 49 minutes
Movie Site: TheUnbreakableBoy.movie
