Film Review: "About My Father"

 - Head over to Elements of Madness to read where this review was first posted!

Robert De Niro has built one of Hollywood’s most unique filmographies in history. He has worked with great filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino, and Michael Mann.  De Niro’s later career has focused on more familial-oriented films like the Meet the Parents franchise, The Intern, Grudge Match, and War with Grandpa. Each of those films was met with a mixed reception from critics and audiences. His latest family film,  About My Father, hopes to break that trend.

The story follows Sebastian (Sebastian Maniscalco), an Italian-American who plans to propose to his American girlfriend Ellie (Leslie Bibb). When he tells his old-school Italian Immigrant father Salvo (Robert De Niro), Salvo insists on crashing a weekend with her family (Kim Cattrall, David Rasche, Anders Holm, and Brett Dier). By reading that premise it will be easy for some to guess the outcome of this story. About My Father is a film that thrives upon the journey of the characters, but not their destination.

Where About My Father struggles is in the PG-13 “fish out of water” comedic moments.  These moments in the trailer are supposed to offer the film's biggest “laughs.”  When in actuality,  several of these scenes (a recurring bit with peacocks in particular) felt empty and unoriginal. It is the moments of heart and familial bonding that help the film hit its stride. Those sequences are especially strong thanks to the interplay of our leads.

Maniscalco and De Niro have strong chemistry together on screen.  An actor of De Niro’s caliber is game for the comedic moments and delivers the film's best and biggest laughs.  When both actors are allowed great moments to banter with one another,  they give the story heart and a real sense of poignancy. Clocking in at an 89-minute running time,  these heartfelt sequences are where the film soars. The problem is that these types of scenes are not given to the rest of the cast.

The surrounding cast of About My Father is relegated to the cheaper, silly gags.  Comedic actors like Holm and Cattrall do what they can in those broader moments, with limited results. Those actors work best when they are given the chance to improvise. A particular sequence involving a tennis match managed to deliver a laugh-out-loud moment for me. The rest of the time, any attempt at “jokes” feels like basic juvenile humor. Brief moments of heart between De Niro and the family soar, but they are few and far between. It feels as if the screenplay focused on the best material being given to Robert De Niro. 

He injects a poignancy into a character that could feel cliched in the wrong hands. Maniscalco based this character on his father, and it shows the warts and all. Getting an actor of De Niro’s caliber helps make those possible cliches feel like loving homages. Once Salvo meets the extended family, he manages to give those bland characters some brief moments of honesty and relatability. It is a needed injection of humility that helped me forgive some of the more broad comedic turns. One can only wish Salvo had more time to humanize other supporting characters. 

About My Father is a far cry from being one of Robert De Niro’s best films. Not every moment works, but the heart remains in the right place. Maniscalco and De Niro have a sharp, funny, and relatable dynamic together. At 89 minutes long, these heartfelt exchanges could be enough of a counter-balance to the silly comedy for some.  Others may find the shifts in tone to be jarring no matter the running time. Not every joke lands, but the heart of this story remains front and center throughout. Instead of a typical love story. audiences are given a love story between fathers and sons.  Though the outcome is predictable, the journey manages to be more enjoyable than the destination.