About My Father

Grade: C-

There’s an inherent, persistent lack of direction throughout About My Father. Talented performers and comedians are artistically suffocated. There is no chemistry. Everyone seems to be in their own separate movie. Nobody is on the same page. The characters are superficial “types” rather than real, grounded people. Even Robert De Niro – one of the greatest actors ever, who usually elevates the bad films he’s in – isn’t given an opportunity to take off.

Sebastian Maniscalco, one of the most enjoyable stand-up comedians working today, co-wrote and stars as Sebastian, who lives in Chicago near his Italian-American immigrant father Salvo Maniscalco (De Niro). Salvo, one of the most respected hairdressers in town, recently became a widower. When he hears of Sebastian’s plans to propose to his girlfriend Ellie over 4th of July weekend at her parents’ beach place, he decides to come with, so he can meet the parents. It was 23 years ago that Robert De Niro first scrutinized poor Gaylord Focker. Now HE is the fish out of water, trying to fit in.

Do I have room to touch on everything that somehow didn’t work? Salvo, Ellie, and Sebastian get off their plane and are met by her brother, who is as annoying and unfunny as he seems to think he is charming and humorous. The less said about him, the better. He’s there to fly them to the country club in his 4-seater helicopter. Sebastian begins to feel queasy, and the scene escalates into a lot of yelling over one another. I’ve been in a helicopter: aren’t they typically equipped with sick bags? Apparently not here.

Or consider a scene where Sibling-We-Don’t-Speak-Of hooks Sebastian’s feet up to some sort of aerial waterski contraption that launches him several feet up in the air, while the family watches from the yacht. After his bathing suit falls down, he somehow never realizes it until he’s told, and then never pulls it up. This leads to him being smacked up against the window of the boat, stuck to it like a car window suction plushie, while his dad and prospective in-laws get a view of him in all his glory. Please, my sides can’t take that much laughter.

Kim Cattrall, as Ellie’s mother, is a famous news anchor. She calls on Salvo to work his hair magic on her right before she goes on the air. She is livid when the big reveal shows that it’s been cut short, like a man’s. Was she not aware this was happening while he was doing it? That’s just one of several conflicts and crises the movie forcefully shoehorns in. About My Father is a pathetic, sitcommy cinematic whimper that often had me grimacing and shaking my head in disbelief.

Grade: C-