“Everybody’s Fine” is a lonely, sad, isolating, realistic, touching, heartbreaking, gut wrenching movie that makes you think about life. It is not the kind of movie that finds commercial success in most cases because very few people want to go to the movies and feel any of the above mentioned emotions. Movies are about fantasy and make believe. Feeling good about life and the guy/girl always ending up together in the end? Life is not like that in reality. Kids disappoint, parents make mistakes, tragedy befalls some of us and sometimes we just can’t figure out how to make it through the day.
Robert De Niro masterfully plays the recently widowed husband “Frank Goode” who in his retirement and finding himself alone reaches out to his four children. All are set to meet him for the weekend and all four cancel at the last minute. He busies himself in the garden and house but finds that he needs his family and strikes out on a cross country trip to visit all four. With his ailing lungs he is unable to fly so by bus and train he begins his trip in New York City. As a parent you find yourself looking into the eyes of your children and the line between pushing them to success and riding them into submissiveness is blurred. How far is too far as you want only what is best for your kids.
With each stop along the way it becomes evident that “Frank” has lost touch with his children. With his wife gone so went the glue that bound them together and he struggles flailing about trying to reach for any of the four. Yes he worked to hard and yes he didn’t pay enough attention to the details but in his elderly state is it too late to grasp his children and guide them all back to family bonding? His kids do not have time for him even after his long excursion to see them and in the end the lies mount up to high to find his way through. He heads home broken hearted and saddened but the realization that his children not only disappointed him but more importantly he has vastly disappointed himself as a father. “Are you happy?”
If Robert De Niro doesn’t win some kind of award for his depiction of “Frank” I will find it a travesty. While the move might struggle in the dollars and cents it was masterfully done if not a little slow at times bringing about the realistic family portrayal of life. The laughs were few and far between and I left the theater feeling my stomach turning from the emotional rollercoaster ride but also left thinking about my life. How many movies made today really bring a message that one can associate with every day reality? Can you count them on two hands or maybe even one?
“Everybody’s Fine” is a wonderful movie. I highly recommend it but I also suggest you take some tissue for the ride. It is sad and heartwarming but you will leave respecting the elderly and appreciating experience a little more. Family is insane at times but they are still family. They are always there with you through the good and the bad, even at times when you might wish they were not.
Check out Duncan’s Diary: Birth of a Serial Killer on Amazon. It is a killer book.
