LEARNING YOU

Name: LEARNING YOU
Item: LEARNING YOU
Author: Review

“‘The Bigger the Heart, The Bigger the Storm’”

Family Content: +3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

In LEARNING YOU, architect Ty decides to take his autistic son, Elijah, on a last-minute trip to the beach, where Elijah has always dreamed of going. As the pair make the journey, Ty learns more about living with his son’s condition, and the father and son become viral after Elijah posts a series of social media updates. These posts inspire many others, including billionaire Reggie Sinclair, who learns the true value of his relationship with his own autistic son.

LEARNING YOU is a sweet and moving story that shines a light on an important group: family members and caregivers of people with special needs. Overall, the movie has a strong Christian worldview, shows characters praying and discussing their faith, and it emphasizes family. LEARNING YOU contains some scenes depicting Elijah’s meltdowns that some viewers might find upsetting, as well as a character who shows suicidal ideation, but otherwise the movie contains no objectionable content.

Content:

(CC, V, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

strong Christian worldview, with many scenes showing characters praying, attending church, and discussing the importance of their faith. There is also a strong emphasis on the importance of family;

Foul Language:

No foul language;

Violence:

A character feels overwhelmed and physically lashes out in three scenes, but no one is hurt;

Sex:

No sex;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drug use; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Dysfunctional family dynamics with a character’s relationship with his ex-wife, who isn’t supportive. A character displays suicidal ideation, carrying a bag of poisonous berries with him and almost eating them several times.

More Detail:

LEARNING YOU tells the moving story of Ty, who takes his autistic son Elijah on a road trip to the beach, and inspires many others along the way.

In LEARNING YOU, architect Ty struggles to juggle his personal and professional lives. He and his ex-wife disagree on what to do with their autistic son Elijah; she wants to send him to live in a state-run institution, while Ty thinks he should be at home. Meanwhile, he has just two weeks to finish the designs for a project for billionaire Reggie Sinclair.

After he takes Elijah out for the day, Ty makes a split-second decision — instead of taking Elijah back to the facility he had been living in, the pair head out on a road trip to the beach, which Elijah has always dreamed of seeing.

Along the way, Elijah makes Instagram posts of their journey, which quickly goes viral and draws the attention of Reggie Sinclair, who also has an autistic son. Through the road trip, both he and Ty learn that there will always be storms, but their faith will guide them through in the end.

LEARNING YOU is a sweet movie that shines a light on an important group of people: family members and caregivers of those with special needs. Lead actors John Wells and Caleb Milby do an excellent job of portraying a complicated, but still loving, relationship, and viewers will be moved by the movie’s story.

LEARNING YOU has a strong Christian worldview, with scenes showing characters praying, attending church services, and discussing their faith. There is also a strong emphasis placed on the importance of family. There are a few scenes depicting Elijah’s meltdowns that some viewers might find upsetting, as well as a character showing suicidal ideation, but otherwise contains no objectionable content.