Is everbody fine?

This is a film review for the film Everybody's fine, an excellent and well acted film which is well worth watching...

FILM ONLY REVIEW

Recently widowed Frank Goode is looking forward to getting his 4 children all together for a weekend at his home, he buys all the food and drinks and even a new BBQ, unfortunately then the phone calls start. One by one his children all cancel on him.

Frank goes to see his doctors about his illness and talks about going to visit his children all over the country by himself. The doctor advises against it but Frank is not put off and sets off on his travels. His first stop is to his son but he is not at home and after waiting for some time Frank decides to move on and see his first daughter. When he arrives at his daughters she seems slightly nervous and is trying to get rid of him but Franks has no idea why. Franks then takes the hint and moves on to his next child.

Will Frank have any luck on his visits and will he ever discover what they are all trying to hide. Will Frank ever get the family all around the same table again?

This is another film which I knew nothing of before sitting down to watch it but as it had a good cast list and sounded like a good story I decided to give it a watch. I did find the story to be excellent and it was greatly helped by the strong cast and the lead role of Robert Di Nero. The way the story came across was quite basic on the surface but we always had an underlying secret which was not revealed to the very end, this did help to keep me interested in what was happening throughout. I have only give a very brief plot outline above so don’t let this put you off as there is so much more to it.

Robert Di Nero played the lead role of Frank and right from the start I warmed to him, he was open and honest and was so in love with his children he was prepared to put his own health to one side to see them. He delivered all of his lines well and made them all sound real and honest, he did seem slightly hard when with his children to start with but over time he did mellow with them and open up slightly. He had a good bond with all the co actors and I loved how well they worked together on screen. We had parts of the film which showed the children when they were younger and the difference this made to Frank was lovely, he seemed more tender and caring towards them and this aspect of the film was great. The children were all played by strong actors, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell and Austin Lysy. They were all very different but good strong characters and I got to know a good amount about each one of them to help me understand their feelings towards their father.

The setting for the film was spread over America and we could clearly see the differences from the small parts we were show, we had a variety of different homes with different fashions and tastes and this worked well as we knew exactly which house we were in. the only real outside shots of scenery were in Vegas and I did enjoy seeing how vibrate and extravagant it is. The film is a modern one so no real effort was needed for the props, sets or costumes and they were all very good and in keeping with the film. The was a good soundtrack to the film and I found it helped with the emotions of the story and the feeling the actors were trying to get across.

This is a very moving film at times and there was one part when I was on the verge of tears. I don’t think this would have come across so well or emotional if we would not have had Di Nero in the lead role as he looks quite hard faced but he managed to loosen and soften enough to get me welled up.

This is a film only review so there are no bonus features to speak about. The DVD can be bought for around £5 now and I think this is a bargain price. The running time of the film is 99 minutes which is a good length with the story moving at a good steady pace from start to finish. The rate is a 12A and I do agree with this.

I have no problem in giving this film the full 5 stars and a high recommendation. The storyline and acting was amazing and it was quite moving and powerful to watch at times. This one is defiatekly worth watching.