When it comes to Florian Zeller’s The Son, the vital themes and swell performances can’t overcome the overly stilted screenplay. And, honestly, it’s a shame, as the story at hand is an important one to tell. Deep depression in adolescents is an incredibly timely subject, and while Zellers takes the matter seriously, there’s a clear disconnect in his attempt to show the true impacts of it all. It boils down to a few things – questionable directing choices, heavy handed dialogue, and an underwhelming depiction of Nicholas (you know, “the son”). Zen McGrath, the actor who plays the teen, can’t be completely blamed for this mind you, as the writing was frustratingly depthless for Nicholas. Although, I can’t help but wonder if we would have gotten more out of a different, more tenured young actor in the role. And while there will surely be some resonating and stirred emotions along the way, they aren’t necessarily earned, but rather manipulated. Frankly, it’s all very aggressively contrived at times. Thankfully, Hugh Jackman puts on a tour-de-force performance, keeping it all from tumbling completely into melodramatic “after school special” territory. And the ending, well, that’ll be something to talk about on the car ride home. Listen, The Son is no doubt going to disappoint fans of Zeller’s previous film The Father, but there are morsels of good things to be found here - you’ll just have to overlook the not so great stuff!