Based on Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 Italian film Stanno Tutti Bene, Kirk Jones’s Everybody’s Fine presents a traditional holiday story told from a slightly different perspective — that of the middle-aged parent.
In this family dramedy, Frank (Robert De Niro) is a newly widowed father who decides to surprise each of his children (Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore and Sam Rockwell) with a visit after they cancel their planned trips home for a family weekend. With every visit Frank realizes, perhaps a bit too late, that his children often choose not to tell him the whole truth about their adult lives, a result of his high expectations of them growing up. Each harbors a grave secret that, when revealed, threatens to upset the entire family dynamic.
What starts as your typical dysfunctional family drama quickly escalates into an emotional journey filled with love, longing and loss. At times, the transitions from tragedy to comedy are less than seamless, leaving you drying your eyes as the funniest moments whiz right by. And the dreamlike epiphany for Frank at the film’s climax seems to resolve most of his conflicts a little bit too neatly.
Though De Niro’s solid performance as a pushy yet good natured dad will convince you that a call to the folks is in order, not much else distinguishes the film. The predictable plot line and its obvious motifs make the movie come off as just another holiday family film, one in which, as usual, everyone is not exactly fine.
2.5 stars
Directed by: Kirk Jones
Starring: Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore
Rated PG-13, 100 min.
