I was expecting a hidden gem comedy watching this coming from David O. Russell now one of our most distinguished and popular directors and with a great all star cast and looking at the reviews it got I knew this was a cant-miss movie.
I cant give this my highest recommendation. This is not a perfect film, nor even a truly great film, but it definitely was interesting, never boring, I never wanted to turn it off and the performances are all great.
I think this ran out of gas a little bit towards the end say the last 20 minutes or so. At that point it just tries to resolve everything at a far too hasty pace but everything up until the end did work and I enjoyed it. The ending wasnt bad, I just think they could have spent a little more time on plot development.
As a person who spent his whole life knowing nothing about his biological grandfather until later in adulthood, the premise of Ben Stiller seeking to know who his biological parents are who gave him up for adoption is a fantastic premise and can work either in comedy or drama very well.
On that level I felt I related a lot to Stiller's character and that gave the movie a huge boost of enjoyment for me.
I would have liked a few more scenes with Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal as the adoptive parents. Moore was a fine actress. Wonderful on her famous sitcom, and fantastic in Robert Redford's Ordinary People and she is great here too, albeit she doesnt have very much to do. I think a few more scenes with her and Segal would have made this an even better movie but that is not a huge criticism nor to say this is a bad film by any means.
Stiller is just fine and it's easy to see why he became so popular later on with There's Something About Mary and the Meet the Parents franchise.
Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni, Richard Jenkins, Josh Brolin, Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin are all equally excellent giving this comedy the appropriate support it needs.
There are some big laughs and even when the film is not laugh out loud hilarious its still interesting enough to hold your attention.
I guess I would have to say the ending was a little too abrupt preventing this very good film from being an excellent comedy.
Again I think another ten minutes at the conclusion would have made this more stronger and maybe even one of the best comedies of the 1990's.
As it stands though the film is still very good and due to the strength of the performance as well as an intriguing premise I can say without hesitation I would recommend seeing it at least once.
I cant give this my highest recommendation. This is not a perfect film, nor even a truly great film, but it definitely was interesting, never boring, I never wanted to turn it off and the performances are all great.
I think this ran out of gas a little bit towards the end say the last 20 minutes or so. At that point it just tries to resolve everything at a far too hasty pace but everything up until the end did work and I enjoyed it. The ending wasnt bad, I just think they could have spent a little more time on plot development.
As a person who spent his whole life knowing nothing about his biological grandfather until later in adulthood, the premise of Ben Stiller seeking to know who his biological parents are who gave him up for adoption is a fantastic premise and can work either in comedy or drama very well.
On that level I felt I related a lot to Stiller's character and that gave the movie a huge boost of enjoyment for me.
I would have liked a few more scenes with Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal as the adoptive parents. Moore was a fine actress. Wonderful on her famous sitcom, and fantastic in Robert Redford's Ordinary People and she is great here too, albeit she doesnt have very much to do. I think a few more scenes with her and Segal would have made this an even better movie but that is not a huge criticism nor to say this is a bad film by any means.
Stiller is just fine and it's easy to see why he became so popular later on with There's Something About Mary and the Meet the Parents franchise.
Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni, Richard Jenkins, Josh Brolin, Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin are all equally excellent giving this comedy the appropriate support it needs.
There are some big laughs and even when the film is not laugh out loud hilarious its still interesting enough to hold your attention.
I guess I would have to say the ending was a little too abrupt preventing this very good film from being an excellent comedy.
Again I think another ten minutes at the conclusion would have made this more stronger and maybe even one of the best comedies of the 1990's.
As it stands though the film is still very good and due to the strength of the performance as well as an intriguing premise I can say without hesitation I would recommend seeing it at least once.