First of all it should be said the cast was very well put together. Such a comedy that relies on feeling familiar to the audience owes a lot to the faces onscreen. Steve Martin as the cynical sceptic, Diane Keaton as the pragmatic mom , the cute daughter, her strapping young lad husband...perfect fits.
Martin Short as Frunk, that was pretty funny. A few good gags along the way and fine dialogue make this hold up. It doesn't try too hard to be emotional, and it does achieve a certain real melancholy fairly well.
It's no grand classic but it's a film that definitely stays with you. It's got a little bit of that Home Alone early 90's family comedy charm, a great period for Hollywood films.
Yes the premise was obvious from the start, yes you could see the emotional scenes coming from a mile away, yes there's a certain obviousness to the film as a whole but in the end it doesn't come across as totally manufactured and inhumane. If anything it's rather moving with what it represents and the wholesome underlying meaning of it: a stable, constantly regenerating society with minor changes from generation to generation and an intact healthy core at the center of it. It projects the wealth of steady American culture as it was during the early 90's. A film in today's social climate would have to make some sort of political statement and this sort of endearing production would not be possible.
Martin Short as Frunk, that was pretty funny. A few good gags along the way and fine dialogue make this hold up. It doesn't try too hard to be emotional, and it does achieve a certain real melancholy fairly well.
It's no grand classic but it's a film that definitely stays with you. It's got a little bit of that Home Alone early 90's family comedy charm, a great period for Hollywood films.
Yes the premise was obvious from the start, yes you could see the emotional scenes coming from a mile away, yes there's a certain obviousness to the film as a whole but in the end it doesn't come across as totally manufactured and inhumane. If anything it's rather moving with what it represents and the wholesome underlying meaning of it: a stable, constantly regenerating society with minor changes from generation to generation and an intact healthy core at the center of it. It projects the wealth of steady American culture as it was during the early 90's. A film in today's social climate would have to make some sort of political statement and this sort of endearing production would not be possible.