Naveen Kanagalingam
Kirk Jones, the man who gave us the laudable comedy Waking Ned Devine, tries his hand at a sentimental film, but his efforts will leave you feeling anything but fine.
The British director’s remake of Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 Italian film, Stanno tutti Bene (Everybody’s Fine), is overtly mushy – and not in a good way.
Robert De Niro plays Frank Goode, a widower who decides to travel across the country to visit his 4 grown-up children – David (Austin Lysy), an artist in New York, Amy (Kate Beckinsale) an advertising executive in Chicago, Robert (Sam Rockwell), an orchestra conductor in Denver and Rosie (Drew Barrymore) a Las Vegas dancer, who all claim to be far too busy to visit him.
Frank Goode made a living by coating America’s telephone wires in PVC to protect them. However, his health declined when he contracted a lung condition, requiring medication, due to the inhalation of harmful gases during work – a fact played up later, in a rather devious manner to tug at your heartstrings.
While he devoted his entire life to protect the lines of communication used by other people, Frank was simply unable to maintain those cords among his family after the death of his wife. An irony painstakingly established in the movie as he journeys to visit his first son. But the ironic detail would’ve been much better appreciated if it was mentioned in passing and left to the audience’s interpretation rather than being made the subject of a 5-minute long conversation.
This is a recurring trend as every plot point in the film is carefully explained and Jones seems to display a tendency to believe that everyone who will be watching his motion picture is only fortunate enough to possess half a brain.
Although it’s obvious from De Niro’s wistful expressions that what he sees upon looking at his children isn’t the grown-up but instead, the child that he used to care for, Jones inserts scenes of actual kids to get this element across.
When Frank arrives at his first stop, he’s disappointed to find that David doesn’t seem to be home, and this is when the only saving grace of the movie is revealed; the cinematography.
The scene of a dejected old man, sitting alone on the steps leading up to an empty apartment, is presented in a skilful manner. And it’s the cinematography rather than the annoying soundtrack that captures the sadness of the moment.
The use of music in this film is both unimaginative and blatantly manipulative. Just before the possibility of Frank meeting 1 of his brood, the music will rise up in an uplifting melody and almost immediately crash into a swell of sorrowful tunes as it becomes apparent that the widower is about to be disappointed.
The poor musical score comes as a huge surprise, seeing that Dario Marianelli, a Golden Globe Awards winner for Best Original Score, is the man responsible for the film’s music.
As Frank makes his way from child to child, it becomes increasingly apparent that his children are hiding something from their dad. And if the evasive behaviour exhibited by the 3 siblings when questioned about the whereabouts of David isn’t enough of a hint to moviegoers that the painter is in trouble, the awkwardly introduced scenes of hanging telephone wires overlaid with anxious conversations between the siblings about the fate of poor David, will definitely get the point across while at the same time insulting your intelligence.
During each visit, it’s revealed that the siblings aren’t just hiding the whereabouts of their brother David, but are lying about significant details about their lives as well.
Amy and Rosie go through a huge amount of trouble to hide these facts from their father and Rosie even goes as far as to borrow a penthouse from a friend and to rent a limousine to pick her father up.
What could compel them to go so far to hide the truth from their father?
Dad it seems “worries too much when not everything is perfect.”
With a whole plethora of possible reasons for extreme levels of deception, Jones probably didn’t spend a great deal of time deliberating before settling on this rather unconvincing plot hook.
Although the film is pretty much all about Frank Goode, it’s the performance by Sam Rockwell as Robert that steals the show. Rockwell convincingly portrays the bitterness felt by an individual who grew up afraid of falling short of his father’s expectations in an argument he acts out with De Niro over supposedly lying to the latter about being a music conductor.
This was the only scene in the entire movie that attempts to establish that the widower might’ve been a fearsome disciplinarian of a man. Up till that point, De Niro only managed to present Frank as a milquetoast, easy going old codger.
This cloyingly sentimental film is a prime example of how, no matter how talented the cast of a movie may be, a film that’s stricken with a bad plot is beyond saving.
At the end of the day, this film’s quest to stain your cheeks with tears feels rather contrived and rings false at almost every turn.
The UrbanWire gives Everybody’s Fine 2.5 popcorns.
Release Details:
Opens: Jan 21 (Singapore)
Duration: 90 minutes
Language: English
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Kirk Jones
Cast: Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, Katherine Moennig, Kate Beckinsale, Austin Lysy
Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Singapore