‘Our Son’ Review: Billy Porter and Luke Evans Play Separating Parents in Earnest Gay Divorce Drama
Manuel Betancourt From “Kramer vs Kramer” to “Marriage Story,” Hollywood has offered no shortage of compelling tales about how divorce has a way of souring relationships — how, by their very nature, divorces dredge up the ugliest in people, making petty marital grievances balloon into resentful chasms that risk making the very process unbearable in ways both emotional and logistic.
With “Our Son,” writer-director Bill Oliver (2018’s “Jonathan”) is adding an LGBTQ entry into that cinematic canon. And while this New York City-set divorce drama offers enough modern tweaks on a well-worn narrative, its emotional resonance remains elusive, muted even.
Nicky and Gabriel (Luke Evans and Billy Porter) have been together for 13 years. They’re not merely a couple. Along with their 8-year-old son, Owen (Christopher Woodley), they’re a family — one with all too neatly divided parenting duties.
While Nicky spends his days at the office, trying to sign authors to his publisher, and often missing key moments of Owen’s childhood, Gabriel is a doting stay at home “Pappa” who reads his son bedtime stories and enjoys cooking his every meal.
