Release Date – 12/4/2009
Frank just lost his wife so he’s leading a lonely life retired at home alone. His four children live all across the country so he really looks forward to their visits. His goal is to get them all at the same table at one point in time. He arranges for them to all come to his house. He wants to impress them with expensive food and wine but they all cancel at the last minute because of a problem with one of their siblings. Frank decides to embark on a journey to surprise each one of them. Throughout the movie we find out he was pretty hard on them as kids because he was so concerned with them being successful in life and maybe he didn’t have as great of a relationship with them as he remembered. They all try hiding from their father the secret troubles of their younger brother. This movie is a very heartfelt story. It’s a road trip broken up into separate chapters as Frank visits his kids. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.
Robert Deniro plays the lonely father Frank. His health isn’t great so his doctor advises against his big surprise travel idea. Frank ignores his advice and goes off on his trip anyway, but he decides to stick to buses and trains instead of planes. He first stops to see his son David who is an artist in New York. David isn’t home so he wanders around the city to waste time but after many attempts and his son never being home, he gives up. We later find out there are some serious problems with David and the other kids have been keeping secrets from their dad. His next trip is to see his daughter Amy (Kate Beckinsale) followed by son Robert (Sam Rockwell) and finally daughter Rosie (Drew Barrymore). In each visit he notices something odd going on but doesn’t bring it up. He just asks if his kids are happy and they all respond Yes. They all lie to him about David because they know how much he worries. Deniro is great in this role. It’s a nice change of pace for him. He’s a lovable father who maybe was a little too hard pressuring his kids to succeed. But he had the best of intentions. Deniro is on screen for 90% of the movie and rightfully so, he does a dynamite job.
I like how the movie was broken up into chapters. Each visit to one of his kids reveals more about Frank, his relationship to his children, and even his relationship with his late wife. Frank’s one wish is to get everyone together again since they haven’t been in the same room since their mother died 8 months ago. Deniro carries this movie to success and shows a wide range of emotion. One of his better acting performances in recent years including some touching scenes in the end. I admit I had to hold back a bit as they were really tugging at the heartstrings with this one. So in conclusion, I wasn’t blown away by the movie but it’s a very nice story with a strong performance at the lead. Its being billed as a holiday movie even showing a Christmas tree on the poster but it has nothing to do with the holidays so don’t let that turn you on or off. Writer/Director Kirk Jones has a great little story on his hands and hopefully it does well for him.
IMDB – 8.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 54%
Movie Wiseguys – 7/10