Product: Everybody's Fine (2009)
Rating: 4.0
Do what ya want. I dunno.
EVERYBODY'S FINE (2009) struck me as an awfully common and coarse title. That's just me. We found it enjoyable, though my wife said it was a shame how old Robert DeNiro looked. I had to remind her that it is called "acting" and that DeNiro looks damned good in real life. (She thought he looked 75.) The title of this review, by the way, is my wife's spot-on impression of DeNiro, who she thinks plays too many "New York wise-ass" roles.DeNiro is Frank Goode, widowed eight months and struggling to cope with his lonesome life. He frets over his children, Rosie (Drew Barrymore), Amy (Kate Beckinsale), Robert (Sam Rockwell) and the unseen David (Austin Lysy). Frank is proud of his kids: one is a dancer, one is an orchestra conductor, one is big in advertizing, and one is a great artist.Frank finds all is not gold that glitters, when he invites the kids home and one by one, they back out...and he has spent a fortune on a new grill, wine, steaks, everything. He misses his kids, who are scattered like the wind...and have things to hide. Frank, struggling with pulmonary fibrosis from breathing PVC all his life, is perceived as fragile yet unapproving by his kids. They feel they cannot talk to him as they did with their mother.Frank decides to go to each of them and surprise them with a short visit, bearing somewhat worrisome-looking envelopes addressed to each one. You will not really guess at the animadventures Frank has during his train-bus-plane trips, and I will not spoil this excellent film for you. The acting is top-notch, DeNiro handles this role of a quiet, aging widower with the usual brilliance, but I was disappointed at how little screen time the others enjoyed. And that is the purpose...not to show us they can't share a scene with DeNiro, but to show kids who cannot share the same room with their father.Yet I would have liked to see a lot more of them and their travails. Each one amounts to barely a sketch of a character.This is a remake of a 1990 Italian film, STAMOS TUTTI BENE ("WE'RE ALL WELL", which I would have liked better as a title for this version). I suppose as a matter of interest I will add this was filmed entirely in Connecticut which I found delightful for some reason.EVERYBODY'S FINE seems well executed enough but one thing I could not understand: why make it at all? The lessons were clear, but in a way this was like a boring lecture from an unpopular relative. It should have been just a tad more dramatic and cinematic--in a way, it reminded me a lot of SINCE OTAR LEFT and the star of that film, old Esther Gorintin, gave DeNiro a run for his money. Well, you decide. It is good general entertainment nonetheless.