Moving Everybody’s May Be Fine But De Niro is Excellent
Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) isn’t sure what’s going on. For the first time in ages his entire family is coming for a visit, their first since the death of their mother, his excitement more than a wee bit obvious. But one by one they’ve cancelled, all claiming that circumstance and situation have conspired to make visiting an absolute impossibility.
Robert De Niro and Drew Barrymore in Miramax Films' Everybody's Fine
Against the wishes of his doctor, Frank decides that if his children won’t visit him then he’ll transverse the country and instead surprise each of them on their very own doorsteps. But as he does he slowly comes to realize none of them, not Las Vegas professional dancer Rosie (Drew Barrymore), successful advertising whiz Amy (Kate Beckinsale) and philharmonic conductor Robert (Sam Rockwell), is telling him the truth, each of them lying to him about intimate aspects of their lives apparently not to worry him.
Based on acclaimed Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 effort Stanno Tutti Bene, Kirk Jones’s (Waking Ned Devine) delightful remake Everybody’s Fine is an emotionally satisfying melodrama I positively adored. Even better it is a blissful reminder of the singular talents of a certain Mr. Robert De Niro, a fact thanks to a seemingly never-ending series of dreadful efforts over the last decade many – sadly including myself – have started to forget.
It’s hard to remember the last time the two-time Academy Award-winner’s name above the marquee actually meant something. Personally, I’d have to go back to 2001’s The Score, that film’s problems having more to do with a substandard script more then it did anything else. Before that there was 1998’s action classic Ronin and then 1997’s triple whammy of Wag the Dog, Jackie Brown and Cop Land, all of those performances having a conviction his recent roles have sadly lacked. But the cream of the crop? I’d have to say Michael Mann’s 1995 masterpiece Heat, his understated and highly controlled work in that all-time stunner arguably as laudable as his landmark turns in Raging Bull and Taxi Driver.
Thankfully Jones has finally given De Niro a script worthy of his talents and a character he obviously related to. This working class retiree is a complicated yet gentle soul coming to grips with the fact that his guarded dogmatic drive as a father has had the unfortunate side effect of somewhat alienating him from his children. They don’t trust him with the bleaker parts of their lives, afraid revealing sad or depressing truths might bring about disappointment.
De Niro digs into Frank with relish without overplaying his hand. I just loved the way he jollily introduced himself to fellow travelers pointing out with pride his omnipresent work littering the roadside (he covered telephone wires with PVC coating), telling people it took a million miles of wire to give his children the opportunity for better lives. The look on his face as he sees his kids as they once were while also trying to relate and understand them as they are now is priceless, while his ultimate reaction to learning why they’ve been so suddenly distant slowly and subtly reduced me to a silently blubbering mess.
As great as all this is, there are some missteps here and there that did reduce my enjoyment (if only a little bit). Jones overdoes things a few times too many, layering on the melodrama during the Rosie visit in particular to the point Barrymore’s otherwise nicely nuanced performance gets a little lost in all the sound and fury. I also got tired of the phone conversation interludes, and while I understood that they were representing Frank’s contributions to the world they also unintentionally foreshadowed plot points that would have been better served to be have been shrouded in a bit more mystery.
Still, the good far outweighs the bad here. Everyone does a superb job with De Niro the positively enchanting front and center. I also love the way how the script allows for the actions of its characters to flow organically, and even when the action tilts a bit too far towards the saccharine more times than not Jones finds a way to pull the reigns back ever so slightly maintaining the narrative’s realistic feel.
When all is finally said and done the reasons this movie excels in my opinion most relate to how it touched my heart. I could relate to its familial saga, could understand the interpersonal dynamics at play. It spoke to me with crystal clarity, its final scenes filling my soul with euphoric gladness I didn’t want to end. For my money Everybody’s Fine isn’t just fine itself it’s positively excellent, and as holiday entertainment goes this is one I’d spend money on without any sort of hesitation at all.
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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