Steinesongo
Too many fans seem to be blown away
Thehibikiew
Not even bad in a good way
Tetrady
not as good as all the hype
RipDelight
This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Ethan
Where do I even start? The film starts off with a promising dramatic premise of Robert De Niro portraying a recently widowed husband who tries to contact his children. And then it goes downhill from there.Who wrote this trashfire of a script? The dialogue is incredibly cliche and weak, and tries to establish emotional relevance and connection with quotes about urinating on walls. The film is supposed to be about De Niro reconnecting with his children, but really it's about him reconnecting with his one son who decided to pursue art and his other children (who are also lacking in achievement, to his disappointment) hiding the fact that he was arrested and died of an overdose. How are we supposed to connect to this otherwise heartbreaking event when the son was never shown on screen, and the only flashback sequence we get is of De Niro encouraging his son to pursue art in a god-awful line about urinating on walls? When the film tries to bring it back up towards the end, as if we're expected to cry for it, it's laughable. Everybody's NOT fine because everybody's not finely written in this trashfire of a film that lacks any emotional connection with its characters and fails to establish and develop the characters that matter because it simply can't handle decent and relatable dialogue.
studioAT
This is a slow moving comedy, that tries to be both funny and dramatic at the same time, and manages to convey neither overly successfully.It gets bogged down by too many slow scenes, and drips with sentimentality at times.It's hard to work out whether De Niro is underreacting to everything as an acting choice or whether he's just bored by the material he's being asked to deliver.Things perk up a little bit once Drew Barrymore (always lovely) and Sam Rockwell (always reliable) pop up, but they can't save a film that's going nowhere.
Wuchak
In 2009's "Everybody's Fine" Robert De Niro plays a widower who is down because his four kids all canceled on coming home for Thanksgiving, so he decides to go see each one instead (Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore respectively). This entails traveling all over the country over the next week or so.I don't get all the positive ratings on this one. Sure, it's well made, has a great cast and makes a good point, but it's just humdrum from beginning to end. Maybe the story works better for those who can relate to De Niro's character, but for everyone else this is a really slow and boring road movie. Being boring is the ultimate sin in cinema.If you want to see Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale in an outstanding drama be sure to check out 2007's "Snow Angels." GRADE: C
kobl0008
This film was superb. It is a very simple story of a dad trying to connect with his kids after they have grown up and grown apart. This film is a marvel of character development so vivid that you truly feel an impact from the realistic scenes and dialog. It is played perfectly by Robert DeNiro. I would recommend this to anyone looking to enjoy a good story that is wonderfully told. There are some funny parts, there are some sad parts, there are some really meaningful personal resolutions and it is all told very artfully.I am not one much for writing reviews but this film did compel me to say something since I think this film's story needs to be shared.
