Profile
Photos
Comments
This may sound sacrilegious but I am not a big fan of De Niro or StreepEverybody's though I do love, of the some generation of actors, Dustin Hoffman and Pacino. The choice of openings today was "Brothers" or "
Fine". I really want to see the latter but due to circumstances I won't
be able to do that until Tuesday so went to see the former.
I was
expecting a sentimental holiday drama revolving around family with lots
of melodrama and tears. This is not really a 'holiday' film though it
is understandable as to why it is being released now. The film is based
on an Italian movie called, "Stanno Tutti Bene" which starred Marcello Mastroianni.
Fundamentally the story is about a man (De Niro) whose wife recently died,
is not well oh, oh) having some sort of breathing problems probably
associated with the job he is now retired from. After inviting his
children to come visit him and all, sooner or later, telling they won't
be able to come he decides to visit them. One son lives in New York
another (Sam Rockwell) in Denver while one daughter (Kate Beckinsale) lives in Chicago and the other (Drew Barrymore) in Las Vegas. None of the children are whom he thinks they are, all hiding
something from him. It is explained to him in one very contrived scene
that it was his wife, their mother, who accepted them for who they were
while he, thinking he was doing the right thing, wanted 'more' from
them, in some cases more than they could give.
All the acting is professional with only Barrymore standing out
more because of her story line than anything else. Considering the
plot(s) one would expect more melodrama, raised voices, more
confronting scenes but even (this is not a spoiler--if you have even
seen one family movie with a sick person at the beginning you expect
this to happen LOL) in the father's heart attack scene everything is
played quietly.
There is only one
real dramatic scene that stands out because it is unexpected and, in a
very minor way, has little to do with the plot. The movie is a quiet,
steady, sincere look at a family that will mainly appeal to older folks
with grown children, which the audience we saw it with were, who will
identify with De Niro and whom the picture concentrates on.
This
is a minor film that one may want to see between shopping in crowds and
the hectic time the holidays bring. It is warm, comforting and really
doesn't go deep or explain what is behind and/or the reasons for the
adult children'sproblems. There is a smart gimmick, not all confusing except the first time it happens, of the father seeing and or talking to the adult children as they were years before taking place in present time.
