Robert De Niro has been playing cops, thugs and other volatile types so long it’s easy to forget the actor is now 66 years old.
“Everybody’s Fine,” which played recently at the Starz Denver Film Festival and opens wide Dec. 4 , hands De Niro that rare, age-appropriate, role.
No wise guy smirks. No expertly delivered whackings. And no, “you tawkin’ to me?” moments.
He’s just a father who misses his kids so much he puts his delicate health on the line to visit them.
The new film begins with great promise and offers the kind of quiet meditation on aging infrequently seen these days.
But the final moments have all the subtlety of a Hallmark card - one that plays a merry tune when opened.
“Everybody’s Fine” casts De Niro as Frank, a lonely widower who takes action when all four of his children bail out on his invitation to join him for a family reunion.
He decides to visit them instead, one at a time, even though his doctor warns him against putting too much stress on his weakened lungs.
The film provides De Niro with offspring who look nothing like the “Raging Bull” star. They must all take after their late mama.
Drew Barrymore plays Rosie, a Vegas dancer whose happy life is just a ruse. Kate Beckinsale’s Amy is another of the actress’ cold fish creations. Sam Rockwell’s Robert bangs a drum in a traveling orchestra even though he dreams of conducting.
Suffice to say the lines of communication between family members have been down ever since Frank’s wife passed, and no one even knows where the fourth sibling is.
De Niro channels his trademark ferocity to make Frank’s frustrations real and relatable. He goes from place to place dragging a suitcase behind him, its squeaky wheels just as intrusive as his line of questioning toward his children.
It’s the kind of quiet performance that doesn’t get Oscar buzz or critical acclaim. And that’s a shame.
Writer/director Kirk Jones spreads warm and funny lines throughout the early sequences, and details the loneliness of Frank’s country wide quest in a way that makes him enormously appealing - and more than a little sad.
Jones stumbles with a few cinematic gambles, like having Frank address his brood about their lies even though, on screen, they appear as children.
And while the movie offers an indie-style approach to storytelling, with solemn takes and a keen eye toward the mundane, the final 20 minutes ladles on the schmaltz - and the predictability.
“Everybody’s Fine” makes us see De Niro in a new light, but the film eventually transforms into a family dramedy we’ve seen so many times before.
(Photo: Kate Beckinsale as Amy and Robert De Niro as Frank in “Everybody’s Fine.” Photo Credit: Abbot Genser/Miramax Film Corp.)
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
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