Directed By Laura Terruso

Starring – Sebastian Maniscalo, Robert De Niro, Leslie Bibb

The Plot – The film centers around Sebastian (Maniscalco) who is encouraged by his fiancée (Bibb) to bring his immigrant hairdresser father Salvo (De Niro) to a weekend get-together with her super-rich and exceedingly eccentric family (Kim Cattrall, Anders Holm, Brett Dier, David Rasche). The weekend develops into what can only be described as a culture clash, leaving Sebastian and Salvo to discover that the great thing about family is everything about family.

Rated PG-13 for suggestive material, adult language and partial nudity

About My Father (2023) Official Trailer – Sebastian Maniscalco, Robert De Niro, Leslie Bibb – YouTube

POSITIVES

Admittedly, this film would be a lot worse if the comedy from Maniscalo’s real-life experiences didn’t effectively register in the air of their deliveries, but Terruso’s direction entirely lends itself to the kind of film that Sebastian was going for here, giving us long-winded laughter by the dozen that certainly makes the engagement all the easier to indulge in. Sure, roughly forty percent of the gags are sampled from an overtly revealing trailer, giving away valued punchlines as a result of their spoiling splendor, but the deliveries themselves emmanate often from extensive set-ups and nuance’d subtleties from De Niro and Maniscalo further selling their meaning, with some instances even testing the limits of a PG-13 rating that never even remotely feels watered down or phoned-in as a result. Speaking of Maniscalo and De Niro, they are easily the most prominent aspect to the engagement, effortlessly etching out a father/son dynamic that not only furnishes organic naturalism in the chemistry of its actors, but also equips the experience with a surprising depth to emotions that makes for a surprisingly sensitive climax for the material. De Niro clearly rules the roost here, balancing his limitless charisma with an overriding caustic wit that serves his outsider perspective tremendously, and Maniscalo’s first leading turn supplants for the stand-up comedian-turned-actor an abundance of humility and humanity that he uses as daggers of devastation during a tensely stuffy weekend away with the in-laws, which we the audience immerse in, since we are essentially living the various engagements and experiences through him. Aside from the performances, the film’s evidential limited budget is expressed in remarkable ways to the visual circumference of the presentation, taking the on-site shooting location of Mobile, Alabama, and making it seamlessly duplicate the elegantly expensive tastes of secluded Florida gated communities. Lastly, the film’s brief-but-urgent run time of 84 minutes does feel like it undercuts the naturalism of the way events materialize in real time, but does keep the film’s majority of improvisation-driven scenes from overstaying their welcome. This is an element that I wish more comedies would take in contemporary times, as the film’s pacing never has a moment to even consider slowing down, leaving this a smoothly engaging film, regardless of which side of the opinion coin of the movie you faithfully fall on.

NEGATIVES

If “About My Father” reminds you of “Meet the Parents” or “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, it’s for good reason, as much of the structure of this film feels like a greatest hits compilation of those two superior predecessors, but without a meaningful brand of storytelling in tying it all together. This obviously keeps the film from ever finding a unique voice of its own on the topic of in-laws rivalry, with scenes that are virtually recreated from those originals, but beyond that supplanted very few surprises for the film throughout its easily telegraphed direction, feeling like one of those rare films where the entirety of the ensuing events feel firmly represented almost entirely in the confines of its revealing trailers. Aside from this, none of the supporting characters or their conversations feel ingrained with realism, which often make it difficult to invest in the momentary plights of their respective conflicts, while offering very few dramatic beats or downtime moments between scenes that are essentially nothing more than scenic skits for the father and son to proceed through. It’s also one of those films where everything you see and are told about will pertain to something relevant later in the film. This is particularly obvious with long-winded exposition dumps explaining a character club house when they were a child, or the town’s adoption of a family peacock, which keep it far from the eyes of loved ones looking over it. Equally compromising to the integrity of the finished product is a first act that takes too long setting the plot in motion, a third act that forcefully garners the third act distancing of characters that conjoin so many of these films by the proverbial hip, and a denoument that audaciously caters to a sequel, just before one of the most abrupt credits roll of the year, thus far. This keeps the film from gaining much momentum for the material, outside of the comic beats that so much of Maniscalo spends his heart and time fleshing out, giving it a one degree margin of success that undercooks the surrounding elements of its storytelling.

OVERALL
“About My Father” feels like a collection of one-off skits and derivative material from other similarly structured concepts, but without much beyond a defined comic muscle to do the heavy lifting. While De Niro and Maniscalo effectively and believably render the quirks and realities of a father and son dynamic, the film accompanying it feels like an 84-minute episode of Mad TV, and one that doesn’t effectively translate the gags of Sebastian’s stage show towards a compelling three act narrative for the silver screen.

My Grade: 5/10 or D+