Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine has good intentions but a poor delivery. This is a road movie where the lead character doesn't travel first class and the situations defy logic, or at least the same reality the film establishes. An old man recently widowed gets stood up by his four children over the holidays so despite medical conditions he takes off visit them in their various cities. A remake of an Italian film (Stanno tuti bene directed by Giuseppe Tornatore) Everybody's Fine toplines Robert De Niro with his children played by Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore.
Everybody's Fine wants to be a grand old film with impressive actors and diligent photography. In fact a few montages featuring telephone lines make the film come alive. Look at the impressive composition in a hospital room where all three kids are framed in one wide shot. But the closer you look the more cracks you see. None of the kids look alike much less like Dad. The reasons they avoid telling De Niro about the truth of their lives are ludicrous. Okay, maybe the kids would hide one's arrest in Mexico on drugs but things like getting a divorce or even being a lesbian and raising a baby with their partner are hardly going to give the old man a heart attack. And the film drags under that weight.
At one point in Everybody's Fine De Niro is reflecting on his life while in New York City (looking for Number One son). It dawned on me that the set-up was similar to a movie De Niro did nearly 30 years ago. In Once Upon A Time In America this moment comes when a frisbee sails over an elderly De Niro's head. De Niro had fairly good age make-up for a role that required flashbacks and flash forwards and looks then just like he looks now. Once Upon A Time In America is among De Niro's best roles, whereas Everybody's Fine is more of a blemish on his resume.