Everybody’s Fine (Kirk Jones, 2009): USA

Reviewed by Mishone Feigin.  Viewed at the AFI Film Festival in Hollywood.

Kirk Jones’ film about a widower, Frank, is heartfelt and very straightforward, without being one thing: cliche.  Jones asmbled an A-List cast in Robert DeNiro, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale.  Together, they provide a dream team of a family.

The film follows Frank (DeNiro) on his quest to reconnect with his four children.  After they cancel their holliday visits to him, he heads to New York city to find his first son.  Then he travels across the midwest all the way to Las Vegas, visiting his two daughters and other son on the way.  Throughout his visits, he is haunted by his children’s seeming dissinterest in his presence.  Frank can sense that they are hiding something from him, which is something that he has elt or their entire lives.  Fortunately, Barrymore’s character is able to connect with him enough to give him hope.  After Frank ends up in the hospital, his children come together to reveal a major tragedy tio him, which end up bringing the family together in the films end.

The acting is simply fantastic.  DeNiro gives one of his best performances in years.  He plays a character that we do not often seee him play: an average guy who is lost and lonely.  He is insearch fro something ddeep, and is at his witts end trying to find it.

The script moved at a brisk pace and was realistic.  I so much identified with the characters’ issues with one another, and there trepedations with becoming intimate with their father.  It was wonderful that the film was shot on so many different locations, because it allowed us to accompany Frank on his jouney visually, which, in turn, made it easier for us to connect with him emotionally. Also, the film was shot with a lot of air in between the cracks, meaning that silence was common and Jones allowed his characters to fully process moments in the film, instead of cutting them short and moving on to the next part of the plot.  DeNiro spends the first ten minutes of the film basically walking around his house in silence, preparing for the hollidays.  It was truly beautiful to watch a film that began with a character in one state of mind and heart, and end with the same character in a completely different state of mind and heart.  A definite reccomendation.