Oh, ‘Father’
We’re not sure if this belongs in the Denis Leary routine-turned-movie canon or De Niro’s late-period dreck portfolio. Both?
About My Father
Director: Laura Terruso • Writers: Sebastian Maniscalco, Austen Earl
Starring: Sebastian Maniscalco, Robert De Niro, Leslie Bibb, Anders Holm, David Rasche, Kim Cattrall, Brett Dier
USA • 1hr 30mins
Opens Hong Kong June 15 • IIA
Grade: C+
Ever since one of the greatest American actors of his generation co-starred in the legit traumatising The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle in 2000, haven’t we all been asking ourselves: What the ever-loving fuck, De Niro? That’s not to say Robert De Niro can’t be funny. He can be. Very funny. Wag the Dog, from three years earlier, is an underrated and prescient piece of political satire. Midnight Run (1988) remains an unsung buddy-action-comedy gem. Even The Sopranos-lite, Analyze This, had its moments, and allowed De Niro to riff on his own mafioso persona. But then came the anaemic sequel, Analyze That, and the equally anaemic sequel (to Meet the Parents) Meet the Fockers, and The Big Wedding, and Dirty Grandpa, and The War with Grandpa… What the hell is going on? If it weren’t for his intermittent greatness (Joker, Amsterdam, publicly bitchslapping Donald Trump) you might think all is lost.
Yet here we are again, with another juvenile “comedy” that inspires more head scratching than applause. Granted, About My Father is way, way, way better than Dirty Grandpa, and does have a few fleeting moments of genuine wit, but it’s also drably familiar and guilty of exploiting the Italian-American tropes stand-up comedian and star Sebastian Maniscalco, whose live routines the film is mostly, loosely, based on, trades in. He never throws down an unironic “Bada bing!” but it’s close.
Robert, just stop
In very general terms, Maniscalco is something of a neo-Denis Leary. Much of his comedy is cut from the same “I refuse to be politically correct” cloth as Leary’s, and draws on similar immigrant stories and experiences, in Leary’s case Irish. About My Father is tangentially about the innovatively named Sebastian (Maniscalco) taking his Sicilian immigrant, working-class father Salvo (De Niro) to meet this soon-to-be fiancée Ellie Collins’ (Leslie Bibb) family. Ellie’s an artist, a very bougie career, and her parents are utterly loaded, so the 4th of July weekend will be spent at the Collins family summer home, a sprawling, estate in the rich part of somewhere. Dad Bill (David Rasche, Succession) is a hotel magnate, and Sebastian works for the competition. Mom Tigger (Kim Cattrall) is a right-leaning housewife-politico who may or may not be racist. Ellie’s brothers are the entitled, constantly failing up heir Lucky, and introverted new-agey trust fund flake Doug (Anders Holm and Brett Dier). You know where this is heading. Will there be culture clash hijinks, epitomised by Salvo’s repeated question of “How much is that?” (Act 1)? A family crisis in which both kids realise the power their parents have over them, for better and worse (Act 2)? Will the Collins and Maniscalcos come together, bigger, better and stronger in the end (Act 3)? As Maniscalco would say: Is the Pope Catholic?
Director Laura Terruso has amassed a filmography of relatively low-budget, alternatively-funded, character-driven comedies (Good Girls Get High, Work It), and she brings a low stakes, workmanlike efficiency to About My Father that’s at least in line with the down home material. Terruso, Maniscalco and co-writer Austen Earl aren't terribly interested in pushing the envelope on immigrant relations, a prime opportunity given Tigger’s status as a conservative pundit on cable news, so what we’re left with is a rote family dramedy that reinforces heteronormative structures and glorifies wealth accumulation. Okay, sure, Ellie throws off her “shackles” and demands her parents let her succeed or fail as an artist on her own, and Sebastian truly, deeply realises the value of his father’s peculiarities and sacrifices vis-à-vis his own sense of self, all framed within safe, unrevealing visuals. And what’s with the voiceover? As stated, yes, there are some chuckles along the way; the peacock adventure, the night cologne, and a radical haircut are all amusing, but they’re hardly cutting edge – and we’ve seen funnier Italians elsewhere: My Cousin Vinny (that shit’s not getting old), Moonstruck and Do The Right Thing come to mind. Despite it all Maniscalco and De Niro do find a nice dynamic that’s clearly rooted in a shared culture, and that smidge of authenticity keeps About My Father from the dumpster. A bit. Killers of the Flower Moon can’t come quick enough. — DEK