The Son

Zeller's too smart to make a truly "bad" movie, and there are some interesting ideas here... But the messaging is so blunt, and the narrative descent so predictable, it leaves little room for actual emotional engagement.

A badly misjudged melodrama, this domestic tale is bogged down in heavy handed histrionics and sentimental notes that makes you want to run away.

There are no ill intentions behind The Son, but sometimes stories are so badly judged and naive in their execution that they turn ugly.

Nicholas’s pain should overwhelm us. It doesn’t, because it’s not allowed to.

Jackman resumes conveying psychic trauma with the air of someone thinking he might have lost his car keys. But it’s the film that has the character flaw no actor could redeem.

Everything is a little too self-conscious, but the longer the film goes on — and it does rather go on — the more it seems this artifice might be a deliberate choice, to make the entire world as dishonest and uncomfortable as Nicholas sees it.

Several movies portray the sensitive nature of suicide and depression. Unfortunately, Zeller’s movie provides a distorted reality of mental health.

Zeller suffers a sad sophomore slump that perpetuates stereotypes about people with mental illness being dangerous.

The Son is an emotionally devastating film with a shocking yet important cautionary message for all parents.

Hugh Jackman you saved this movie but not enough for me to recommend it