About My Father | Film Review

 

Sebastian (Sebastian Maniscalco) is forced to invite his father (Robert De Niro) to spend the 4th of July weekend with his girlfriend's family so that he can propose to her.

I had never heard of this film before it came out on Prime Video. But it was new, and it starred Robert De Niro, so I was interested in seeing it.

It ended up being better than I expected it to be, but it definitely wasn't as good as it could have been.

It started off really well, and I found myself enjoying the concept a lot more than I thought I would.

The characters were fun and interesting. I especially liked the eclectic mix of Sebastian's girlfriend's (Ellie, played by Leslie Bibb) family. Because as much as this film is about the father/son relationship, it would have been a bit boring without Ellie's family.

However, I found myself liking the characters less and less as time went on. It didn't feel like any of their personalities, together or apart, were enough to make the film as interesting as it should be. Because of this, it stopped holding my interest and attention.

I found the writing sometimes tried too hard to be funny. There were some genuinely funny moments, but a lot of the humour isn't as funny as it thinks it is.

The voice-over is an interesting way to tell the story, but it doesn't always work for me. There were quite a few times when it took me out of the moment.

But having said that, it's a really easy movie to watch and follow, and it had a really nice ending.

Overall, the end result of the story was really sweet, but I didn't always love the journey.

5/10