Bobby Cannavale Is a Stand-up Comic with an Autistic Son, a Road Trip, and a Dream in ‘Ezra’ Trailer

Bobby Cannavale has been passed over at the Comedy Cellar, but if he doesn’t get his act together — and we don’t mean his stand-up act — life itself will pass him by.

Bleecker Street released the trailer for its upcoming feature film “Ezra” on Wednesday, March 13, which in addition to Cannavale stars Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, Whoopi Goldberg, Rainn Wilson, Tony Goldwyn, and newcomer William A. Fitzgerald, and Robert De Niro. Pretty good cast there.

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“Ezra” follows Max Bernal (Cannavale), a stand-up comedian living with his father (De Niro) while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra (Fitzgerald) with ex-wife (Rose Byrne). Cannavale is broke — the living with dad part probably gave that away — and “still not over” Byrne.

Max gets his potential big break when invited to do a late-night set for Jimmy Kimmel. (Unclear if it’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in the “Ezra” Cinematic Universe.) One problem: he’s not quite in-demand enough to get the airplane ticket too. The other problem: what about Ezra?

Road trip!

Max and Ezra head cross-country to Hollywood in a trip that will ultimately change both of their lives. It also just might kill Max’s stand-up comedy career. Oh well, priorities.

“Ezra” is “an endearing and often funny exploration of a family determined to find their way through life’s complexities with humor, compassion, and heart,” Bleecker Street promises.

In addition to his on-screen role, Goldwyn, the guy who played the POTUS on “Scandal” (and yes, lots of other known roles) directs the film; Tony Spiridakis penned the script.

“Ezra” is produced by both Tonys Goldwyn and Spiridakis, as well as William Horberg and Jon Kilik. Its long Rolodex of executive producers are: Zhang Xin, Justin Baldoni, Steve Sarowitz, Andrew Calof, Jamey Heath, Manu Gargi, De Niro, Cannavale, Carla Raij, Richard Lewis (not the recently deceased comic, to be clear — this one’s a finance guy), Bob Xu, and Lois Robbins.

The Bleecker Street film has played well on the film-festival scene (Best Feature Film in Boulder, an official selection at TIFF, Best of Fest an Audience Favorite at Palm Springs, and another audience award in Sun Valley), opens in theaters on May 31, 2024.

Watch the trailer here:

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