This is not a typical Hollywood comedy (not that that is any guarantee of quality comedy these days though). It is offbeat and weird and uncomfortable...and if the book is anything to go by, it is supposed to be. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, just something many people did not expect it seems.
The Altmans are your run of the mill, dysfunctionally functional family. The four Altman siblings (and their mom) are forced to spend a week together (something they're all "thrilled" by) sitting Shiva for their recently deceased father. Being together under one roof again they are forced to face not only their grief about the loss of their dad but also to come to terms with the problems and issues of both their past and present.
It is a decent dramatic comedy about families, love and life, with a fantastic cast and fair amount of funny moments, yet it does fall short of the depth the book is able to reach in terms of character development. Adam Driver is a star on the rise, definitely an actor that keeps impressing with his acting talent in each role he takes on. Jane Fonda shines in the role of an uncomfortably progressive psychotherapist mom. The film is worth seeing for the ensemble cast alone. I feel it tried to be too many things at once and in trying to divide the screen time between the actors, it ended up falling short of the greatness it could've achieved.
The Altmans are your run of the mill, dysfunctionally functional family. The four Altman siblings (and their mom) are forced to spend a week together (something they're all "thrilled" by) sitting Shiva for their recently deceased father. Being together under one roof again they are forced to face not only their grief about the loss of their dad but also to come to terms with the problems and issues of both their past and present.
It is a decent dramatic comedy about families, love and life, with a fantastic cast and fair amount of funny moments, yet it does fall short of the depth the book is able to reach in terms of character development. Adam Driver is a star on the rise, definitely an actor that keeps impressing with his acting talent in each role he takes on. Jane Fonda shines in the role of an uncomfortably progressive psychotherapist mom. The film is worth seeing for the ensemble cast alone. I feel it tried to be too many things at once and in trying to divide the screen time between the actors, it ended up falling short of the greatness it could've achieved.