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Movie review: Everybody’s Fine
Robert De Niro talks to his daughter played by Drew Barrymore in EveryBody’s Fine, rated PG.
By Maggie Scott
With Everybody’s Fine, Robert De Niro is dangerously close to the equivalent of what happens to some aging actors who find themselves relegated to ending their careers with roles in cheesy horror films. Director/writer Kirk Jones’ humdrum drama causes lockjaw in De Niro’s acting chops in a role reminiscent of the one Jack Nicholson so assuredly carried off in About Schmidt.
Sobering news about his health forces a widowed man to break old patterns and seek to make the connection his wife always took care of with their adult children. David (Austen Lysy), Amy (Kate Beckinsale), Rosie (Drew Barrymore) and Robert (Sam Rockwell) haven’t seen their father, Frank (De Niro), since the funeral. They have all sent regrets recently for a family gathering for which he was meticulously preparing with mowing, vacuuming, watering, pruning, power-washing and construction of a fancy gas barbecue grill.
The kids’ regrets, and the ignored advice from his doctor that he not stress his ailing lungs, inspire Frank to beard the lions in their dens. Packing his bag and his preconceived notions about how well his sons and daughters are doing, Frank books a seat on a New York-bound train to begin an odyssey of inquiry into the happiness of his offspring.
The first stop is a fruitless wait for the missing David. Next, it’s on to Chicago and a stop at the ultra-chic home of his advertising agency executive daughter, Amy. Along with the successful career, she and her husband seem to have made a comfortable home with their son. Although she isn’t being entirely straight with him, Amy assures her dad that she’s happy.
Traveling on to Denver, Frank tracks down Robert at Symphony Hall, where he discovers that the boy he once imagined standing at the podium leading the orchestra is merely the man with the mallets behind the kettle drums. Sensing his father’s disappointment, Robert stands up for his determination to do what he feels he’s best suited for…and, for what makes him happy.
Vegas is the last stop, where Rosie works as a dancer, and where an unfortunate incident with a mugger forces Frank to shorten his visit. Throughout the trip, Frank makes repeated calls to David, with no luck. Unbeknownst to him, the young man is in Mexico in very unhappy circumstances; and his siblings are keeping their conspiratorial mouths shut when it comes to letting Dad know.
With his mission only partially accomplished, Frank departs for home, only to land in the hospital. This conveniently provides the impetus for the kids to make a clean breast about David and for Frank to realize the time has come to put his image of the kids as little children in its proper place.
Frank’s recognition of lost time with, frustrated ambitions for and imprecise knowledge of his children is something most parents will sympathize with. While De Niro convincingly conveys this effort and its emotional toll on his character, no great depths of feeling are plumbed. Nevertheless, just about everybody’s going to be fine with this essentially dignified tribute to family bonds. Miramax release, rated PG-13 for adult content and language.
