Around the holiday’s a little film called Everybody’s Fine came out. It was marketed as a feel good film, and it featured many mainstream celebrities. I purposely avoided watching the film, simply because it was marketed as some “feel good” movie about the holidays in general. I’m not a sap, at least not usually, but this film forces a lot of messages through great symbolism.
Robert De Niro plays a father that is waiting for all of his kids to come and visit him, but when they cancel on him, he decides to visit them.
Much like Bruce Lee went through different chambers in “Game of Death”, De Niro goes through different stages of his family. All his children are grown up, and they all have a different view of what their father expects and how to break the news to him that his “troubled” son is in trouble with drugs, and in jail.
This movie has some amazing scenes, artistically, and video wise. There are many nuances and subtle touches that I really wasn’t expecting at all. Scenes where De Niro is staring into the camera, trying to channel the depression of Bill Murray, yet the marketing did not supply such a warning.
The poster, marketing, and commercials (trailers included) all pointed to a very different kind of film, than what is captured on this amazing piece of intellectual cinema. There are a lot of layers involved in this movie, and it’s really not a topical thing, you have to understand relationships and well…it helps if your father is older. I kind of see my father in De Niro’s character, and I understand the complexity of the characters.
Maybe I’m just getting old, or maybe this film should’ve gotten a better marketing campaign.
I suggest checking out “Everybody’s Fine” on dvd, it’s worth it, although a little slow for some tastes.
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