Sunday, December 6, 2009

Everybody's Fine (2009)

In an average tear-jerker with an above-average cast, Robert DeNiro plays a retired blue-collar father suffering from fibrosis of the lungs incurred after decades of coating telephone wire with PVC. The four children (Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Austin Lysy) that he supported with his hard-earned income have all left their hometown of Elmira, New York for vital careers and idyllic lives - at least that’s what DeNiro's recently deceased wife had led him to believe. When everybody cancels an eagerly-awaited family reunion, DeNiro ignores his doctor's warnings and pays surprise visits to the painter in Manhattan, the happily-married ad exec in Chicago, the symphony conductor in Denver and the rising star dancer in Las Vegas - leaving each city with new information but without ever getting the whole truth. However, he is able to subconsciously read between their lies during what turns out to be a difficult trip home. Even as he's coming to terms with what he's discovered, the father is dealt a new shock that gives DeNiro a chance to emote more deeply than he usually can in his more typical tough-guy roles. Paul McCartney sings the time-to-dry-your-eyes end title song. Trivial Tidbit: in a pitch at his daughter’s ad agency, DeNiro is asked to imagine he’s fishing and that a talking fish asks him “are you lookin’ for me?” (punning DeNiro’s most famous catch phrase).

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