Picture Shows

About a month ago, I took Mrs. bee to see Amelia, the biopic about Amelia Earhart. While we were there, we saw the trailer for Everybody's Fine, with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore. It looked like a family comedy set around Christmas, the kind of movie my wife loves, and we agreed on the spot that it would be one of the holiday releases we'd see this year.

My own expectations for Everybody's Fine were fairly low. Based on the trailer, it seemed to be the kind of movie I usually prefer to watch on cable TV. But I've been a big fan of Robert DeNiro for about thirty years, and I've had a serious crush on Drew Barrymore since she reached adulthood, so I figured I could get through 100 minutes or so of this one.

We saw Everybody's Fine this afternoon and I was in for a surprise, because the movie was much more serious than the teasers led me to expect. It deals with the relationships among DeNiro, a retired widower, and his adult children. At one point, DeNiro says he didn't have many dreams about what he wanted to be during his life --- he just wanted to work hard and be a good father. I personally identified with that position, making it easy for me to see the events in the movie through the eyes of DeNiro's character. He learns that he doesn't know as much about his sons and daughters as he thought he did, and that their lives went in directions other than what he'd hoped for and expected. As a father with adult children of my own, there were things going on in Everybody's Fine that I could relate to on a personal level, and it affected me emotionally more than anticipated. For that reason, I recommend this movie, although the professional critics may not be inclined to do so.