Directed by Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee), Everybody’s Fine is this year’s family Christmas film. Unfortunately, it never really becomes anything more than a semi-sweet story, good enough for a weekend rental, not necessarily worthy of your theatrical dollar.
Robert De Niro stars as Frank, a man who’s just lost his wife. We first meet him as he is preparing for the arrival of his children for a family get together. Unfortunately, after the wine is purchased and a new barbeque is in place, each of them cancels at the last minute. As a result, he decides if they won’t come to him, he’ll go to them. Against his doctor’s wishes, Frank packs up and leaves his home where he eats alone and his only true joy is his garden and sets out on his cross-country journey.
Each visit offers its own difficulties, which is to be expected, as we learn Frank was a rather strict father, always asking the best of his children. He was also an absent father as he worked long hours manufacturing telephone cable to support his family. Of course, such an occupation has affected his health and is the reason he must make his journey by bus and train. That’s okay though, it offers Jones the opportunity to present imagery of telephone lines whisking by, outside the window, serving as the film’s metaphorical line of communication accompanied by the voice over of Frank’s children warning their brother or sister of his on-coming visit and the one big secret they won’t share with him.
This telephone line gimmick runs thin almost as soon as it’s introduced and “the secret” I referenced, in particular, proves to be just too much as the family issues piled onto this melodrama are not all necessary.
As time goes on it’s hard enough for families to stay in touch and for the most part this film does a great job focusing on a father who never really knew his kids as much as he chose to listen to, and was told, what he wanted to hear. As he realizes this, Everybody’s Fine touches upon real human emotion, but it’s exaggerated storyline, begging for additional sentimentality, takes things too far.
De Niro delivers one of his better performances in years and he’s accompanied by Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell playing his children and each live up to their acting expectations, but none really knocking it out of the park. One thing’s for certain, successful or not, Frank has got to be impressed with how attractive his children turned out.
I won’t complain too loudly about Everybody’s Fine, because it is a perfectly sweet diversion and over Christmas 2010 I recommend you order it from Netflix and watch it with the family. But as far as a 2009 theatrical recommendation goes I’m not sure it has enough to warrant the trip.
