About My Father Review
This film grabbed my attention because of how it looked like a version of Meet the Parents (2000). I will say, however, this is a more dried-out version of that franchise. About My Father is funny in moments, but the writing is poor, the pacing is off, and the film is just plain quirky. There are fun personalities with Robert DeNiro and Sebastian Maniscalco playing father and son. Otherwise, About My Father is a film which does not seem to care about finding meaning in its humor. It is just an array of consistent slapstick jokes which led to an experience of silliness that was not memorable.
In About My Father, Maniscalco plays Sebastian, a man who has grown up with a father who is follows the rules of society. His father has a strict Italian personality and sticks to Italian traditions. His father is Salvo played by DeNiro. Salvo has always tried to teach his son to learn about life the hard way. He teaches him ways to be frugal with money, ways to be economical, and ultimately ways to use pure commonsense. This is a challenge for Sebastian who wants to marry the girl of his dreams, Ellie, played by Leslie Bibb. Ellie invites Sebastian to meet her family at an expensive, fancy property. Leslie’s parents are Tigger and Bill who are played by Kim Cattrall and David Rasche. Her brothers are Lucky and Doug and are played by Anders Holm and Brett Dier. Lucky is into sports is quite egotistical. Doug is into healing therapies and has some strange perceptions. Salvo crashes a party for Sebastian by joining in on the family fun. Is that right for Sebastian? Can Salvo behave himself? How many quirks can there be?
About My Father is a comedy that might be taken more seriously, but it is a challenge to do so. The frequent quirks are either offensive or do not make sense. Surprisingly the “quirks” in DeNiro’s performance are genius, but not the “quirks” of the entire family. About My Father has a mixed dynamic that only defines ego and its attempt to be funny is not intriguing entertaining at all. During the film, I continued to ask myself how much more of the craziness in this poorly written comedy can I take? To me, it felt like watching paint dry.
The whole experience of watching this film was frustrating. DeNiro fits the role of strict father and Maniscalco fits the role of wimp son. Unfortunately, neither character can manage to salvage this poorly written comedy. To make matters worse, the scenes with Ellie’s rich family and the various wealthy characters in About My Father are even uninteresting and extremely dry.
About My Father is a movie that I was not sold on. I enjoyed the laughs here and there, but it was purely a mediocre film. If you do decide to watch it, maybe it is one of those films that may be more joyful from the comfort of one’s own home. One half star out of four for About My Father.