Among the many things I've come to admire about the films of Jon Gunn, the greatest thing may very well Gunn's willingness to show the grit and gristle of everyday life. This is quite true in his latest film, the PG-rated family drama The Unbreakable Boy. 

Gunn has for the most part lived his filmmaking career within the arena of faith-based/faith-inspired cinema with such films as The Case for Christ, I Still Believe, Ordinary Angels, and Jesus Revolution among others. Gunn is gifted at taking real-life stories and tugging our hearts without ever feeling overly manipulative. This film is adapted from Scott LeRette and Susy Flory's popular book "A Father's Fear, a Son's Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love."

I suppose I should be grateful they didn't use that for the title of the movie, eh?

The Unbreakable Boy kinda sorta centers around Austin (Jacob Laval), born to the somewhat misfit couple of Scott (Zachary Levi, Shazam!) and Teresa (Meghann Fahy). 

I say "kinda sorta" because one could easily argue that the film is just as much about Zachary Levi's Scott, a troubled soul who isn't exactly prime fatherhood material when he's forced to not only become a father but become a father to a child with brittle-bone disease who is also eventually diagnosed with autism. 

I really appreciated Gunn's willingness to show this journey with some grit. Yes, it's PG-rated grit. However, The Unbreakable Boy spends most of its nearly two-hour running time showing the harsh truths around showing how difficult it can be to parent a child with complex medical needs. My own father was similarly ill-equipped for the journey, a young man who married at age 20 and became a parent of a child with spina bifida within the first year of his marriage. 

Trust me, he didn't handle it well. Gunn shows that same struggle here and Zachary Levi does a wonderful job of bringing that struggle to life and yet keeping us completely engaged with Scott. It's heartbreaking to see Scott and Teresa try to connect with their son and yet failing repeatedly to do so. 

That son, played for the most part by Jacob Laval, is a social misfit with a tendency toward saying too much and repeatedly breaking multiple bones in his body. These breaks are, ironically, part of what holds the storytelling together along with Laval's engaging, slightly manic, and emotionally resonant narrative that runs throughout the film. While I may wished for an actor with autism in the role (NOTE: I searched and could find no indication Laval is autistic), that's not Laval's responsibility and he redeems himself incredibly well here in a performance that hits all the right physical and emotional notes. 

If you've seen a Jon Gunn film before, then you know that he's excellent at tapping the emotional core of his stories and characters. The Unbreakable Boy is a sentimental weeper and my eyes were certainly not dry throughout. However, these are honestly earned tears coming out of Gunn's excellent storytelling and this strong ensemble cast.  Nashville based Kingdom Story Company, led by familiar faith-based filmmakers and producers like the Erwin Brothers, Kevin Downes, and Tony Young, has long partnered with Lionsgate for distribution and that's a partnership that continues to pay off big time. 

While I've mentioned Levi's wonderful work here, I have to give a major shout-out to Meghann Fahy as Teresa. A stage actress turned television and film, Fahy absolutely dazzles here and gives the film an immense emotional core and charismatic presence. Fahy is simply extraordinary as a young mother trying to learn how to love her son while also trying to figure out how to show up authentically in a major born out of an unexpected pregnancy (also rarely seen in faith-based films and handled quite nicely here). 

Among the supporting players, I was particularly taken by Peter Facinelli's Pastor Rick and the always dependable Drew Powell, a native of my home state of Indiana, in a role best left to be experienced. The always welcome Patricia Heaton also impresses as Scott's mother. Again, however, the entire ensemble is impressive here. 

I will admit that I was a bit skeptical at a film centered around a kid with dual diagnoses of osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle-bone disease) and autism. I thought to myself "How are they going to make this work?" 

They make this work. 

If all you want is a story about Austin, you may need to adjust your expectations to Gunn's willingness to really flesh out the story of his parents. I felt like I knew all of them by film's end and that gave the film a much deeper meaning for me. Gunn could have easily rushed us through the whole "prayer changes everything" ending we often see in faith-based films, however, Gunn's storytelling recognizes we don't always get the story we want or prayer for but God is still present in all of it. 

Since I sort of put a disclaimer on Laval's performance by wishing an actor with autism had landed the role, I want to revisit his work here for a minute and acknowledge how tremendously good he is here. Austin could have so easily been turned into a quirky autistic stereotype - he's not. Laval so wonderfully fleshes out this character and humanizes him for us in a way that's powerful and quite beautiful. By the end of the film, I was looking up Laval's filmography. His scenes with Pilot Bunch, as Tyler the class bully, could have been corny schmaltz and yet turn into something rather magical. 

Gavin Warren, as Austin's younger and oft-neglected brother Logan, is under-utilized and yet nicely captures the difficulty growing up in a family with a sibling who commands more of the attention. 

There aren't a lot of films that effectively tackle the father-son dynamic. This is especially true when complex disabilities are involved. However, Levi and Laval create a believable chemistry that is somehow both complex and tension yet also familial and yearning. I believed this father and son throughout The Beautiful Boy. 

The Unbreakable Boy is yet another winner from Jon Gunn, easily one of the most authentic and gifted faith-based and faith-inspired filmmakers working today. With this film, he captures a story worthy of being told and told well. Gunn delivers and my guess is that both faith-based and secular audiences will love it. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic