Stories about how Americans or tourists do not fall into their own stratum of society are a separate genre of American cinema.
Yes, only the problem of this genre is that it works exclusively on absurd situations, which in turn are based on interclass stereotypes, which by definition cannot be politically correct, because they hurt someone's feelings, which is unacceptable in modern realities.
Actually, because of this, the classic comedies died out, but the theme of interclass relations apparently does not give rest to someone and they periodically try to change it into something “decent”, but it turns out that he does not much.
In this case, everything is so politically correct and refined that it is not even clear who was counting on? Frankly, there was a feeling that this product is the result of cutting the budget, which is indirectly indicated by the timekeeping, which even up to the standard 90 minutes could not reach.
There is no plot structure as such. The viewer with clumsy inserts in the prologue show - these are such and such immigrants, and these are such. This one fell in love with this and now there will be humor.
But in order to have humor, you need a base, immediately each character, apparently, passed an ethics committee, so that God forbid someone seems that someone parades someone without respect.
There is no romantic element to the word. As I wrote above – in the prologue of the viewer put before the fact – these love each other and period. The groom (who is clearly over 40 years old) even sleeps in the bat, which, given the scene, is impossible to explain except by the complete figment of the screenwriter and director.
As a result, neither as a comedy nor as a melodrama, the project does not work.
4 out of 10
Weekend with Dad is a romantic comedy about the rich and successful Yankees. From the very beginning, the viewer, so to speak, is introduced to the course of affairs, telling about the “magic love” of two adults who have been held in the life of Americans, who (as we are explained) belong to two different social strata. He was brought up all his life as a hard worker, and she is a wealthy artist from a respectable family, whose father is the owner of a chain of elite hotels, and his mother, no less than a senator from Maryland. The main character (the groom) is also not a mistake and, as we were told, recently opened his boutique hotel (so, not the last horse without salt eats up). I hardly listened to this backstory, which lasted for 10 minutes, drowning out the clear urge to turn off this farce.
Robert De Niro is probably the only thing to watch this movie for. Some of his character's lines are fun, with a bit of humor. But now, toilet humor, coupled with vulgar American humor cause only a sense of disgust at what they saw. In addition, in some moments there is an outspoken banter of Italians (if I were Italian, I would be offended). Actor Sebastian Maniscalco does not look at Robert De Niro’s son in appearance (you can look at De Niro’s photos in his youth and compare them). In addition, Sebastian Maniscalco has already been hit by Poltos, and as a young groom it is not possible to perceive him (although, perhaps, it is intended, they say, adjusted actors to the age of De Niro?). Except for De Niro, all the other characters looked like cardboard, fake, idiotic even for comedy.
“You put feathers in your ass – that’s all! consider yourself better than others.”
Great slogan for this movie. Weekend with Dad is like a pinched chicken, which stuck feathers in one place and try to pass off as something worthy of all praise. And, in my opinion, it was just a low-grade comedy with very flat humor.
2 out of 10
It may seem that behind the free translation of the original title About My Father, which turned into “The Weekend with Fathers”, there is a simple-minded fairy tale about fathers and children and a romanticized love story of immigrants of different social status. The trailer in this can convince that it will be an hour and a half of stupid sketches in which the willful father of the groom sends the peacock to spaghetti al pavone, or pompous matchmakers from the bride try to show how good they are.
But, in fact, this film refers to those who humorously tell a serious story.
This romantic comedy (or drama) is directed by Laura Terruzo. In eight years after graduating from film school, she managed to direct four feature films and an episode for the series Dickinson. She became the fourth female director to work on a film starring Robert De Niro (before her, it was Nancy Meyers – “Internship”, 2015, Penny Marshall – “Awakening”, 1990, and Agnès Varda – “One Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema”, 1994).
The film tells about Sebastian Maniscalco’s relationship with his father (stand-up comedian S.M. plays the role under his real name), who immigrated from Sicily in the 1960s, and the inspiration for the plot was the real story of the mother of the film director Laura Terruzo. Her mother immigrated from Sicily around the same time, and she wanted to capture her family’s experiences in art form.
In the case of the Weekend with the Father, the problems of social inequality and the relationship between parents and children are raised – here both problems are closely intertwined and do not jump from topic to topic. It is important to note that the emphasis is on the fait accompli – all the actors are already US citizens, they are only learning to coexist together. Here, the conflict is built on how immigrants of different levels relate to each other, being educated, successful in their fields and with their understanding of well-being. That is, the viewer is given the opportunity to look at a completely everyday situation, which is possible in any country, when someone wants to appear better in front of another. And ironically, children from such families find each other and are going to get married, breaking the artificial barrier of snobbery with their feelings.
The inclusion of Independence Day in the plot sounds great with the problem of “fathers and children”. The favorite holiday of all Americans in “The Weekend with the Fathers” acts as a metaphor for separating children from their homeland. Both Sebastian and his fiancée Ellie finally find the courage to announce that they want to build their own lives – bumping into obstacles, realizing their powerlessness in certain situations, finding solutions to problems without any insurance. Parents at this point need to understand that the family is not destroyed after leaving the child to his partner, oddly enough, it becomes larger. The humor is that adults are faced with an ordinary-looking problem, but react to it in a childlike way.
But most importantly, the authors of the film managed to explain that the concept of “family” is much broader, it has no nationality.
Briefly describe this film can be as follows: the age caste offends Robert De Niro.
This film is very bad - the viewing left such an unpleasant aftertaste that prompted to write the first review on Kinopoisk.
The genre of family comedy and cast with Robert De Niro creates certain expectations, even this theme is already run in the classic Dating Parents and Fockers. What happened was a shame.
Starting with caste: De Niro is beautiful, of course, and it’s interesting to see a beautifully aged Samantha (Keith Ketrall), everything else falls into the ‘No’ category.
The main characters are a young couple, played by actors who are already fit to have grandchildren. Young and cheerful novice artist Ellie 48-years-old and her career in the hotel business guy 52-ies (the film is 42, but the age of both is obvious). The love story that this duo is trying to tell is already because of such a banal reason looks completely fake, no matter how hard the makeup team tries (and she did not try very hard).
The whole caste game, except for De Niro, is stunningly flat, as if they were competing or had a KPI on the plane.
Heroes are cardboard.
Jokes of the film about fear of heights, flying underpants, unusual dinner and others are nasty and sad, not funny.
But that's not the main problem. The most disappointing thing is that there are far fewer comedies than tragedies, and the film evokes sadness, disgust and shame rather than fun. All the characters do is try to shame the only character causing positive emotions - the father of the main character with short breaks for unfunny jokes below the belt. All. That's the whole scenario.
Inappropriate for caste roles
Flat play
Lack of humor
Vulgarity
The humiliation of the elderly
If you choose a movie for the evening and think about stopping at this, it is better to close and review the cycle of Meet your parents.
I saw this picture in the selection "Top 10 in the online cinema". Since we always meet on the cover (in our case, the poster and title), my first impression was ambiguous: the poster and the title (localized) created the feeling that the plot of the film will not, and the humor will be “below the belt”, but always escorted to mind.
1. Plot and Problems
The theme of the family and the conflict of fathers and children is no longer surprising, but the picture did not have such a task. There was also the problem of social inequality and emigration, but this is not so pronounced in our culture, so many dialogues are not taken seriously. The plot flows smoothly throughout the viewing: no twists, serious tragedies or emotional swings. The viewer knows from the beginning that everything will end nicely and happily. I decided to watch this picture to relax, so the template in this case only pleased me.
2. Characters
Characters can be understood, but you can’t put yourself in their place: there is no chemistry either inside the characters or when they interact, but in general they are all quite cute and pleasant. Some moments had to touch the soul, as I understand it, but it passed me by because the atmosphere of the film did not allow.
3. Jokes
For humor, I would put a plus, because it is not too vulgar, and the amount of it lifts the mood. Yes, there have been times when jokes make you a little "squeaky," but mostly everything fits in. Thanks to the optimal level of humor, a pleasant mood is maintained until the end of the film, and the theme and problem do not turn into a cheap joke.
Bottom line: a good movie, for example, for family viewing. If you do not look, it will not fade, but after viewing there is no feeling that you have wasted time in vain.
7 out of 10
There are values in America that society will fight for to the end. One of them is family. Despite seemingly unbridled morals and a complete decline in morality. Everyone looks at the world through their glasses. Like the movie from its place in the cinema. A special place since the time of Chaplin in Hollywood is a comedy. Family comedy is honorable.
Weekend with Dad (originally About My Father) is a simple film. There is no fair of meanings, especially witty punches in dialogues, even a gag "below the belt" - just one, which is very small on the Adam Sandler scale. “Again, Robert De Niro plays a grumpy old conservative,” says a viewer who has seen both Grandfather of Hard Behavior and Meet the Fockers. If we add that “The Weekend” is a fictionalized autobiography of the screenwriter and lead actor Sebastian Maniscalco, even a bucket of popcorn will not calm our man. The main character's name is Sebastian Maniscalco, which is very funny. His father, as in life, Salvo. And in general, Maniscalco is a stand-up comedian of the domestic American stage, nobody knows him here. Like all immigrant cuisine with these “guidos”, the Italians who arrived only a hundred years ago, and the arrogance of the WASP – white anglo-saxon protestant – and their disassembly. There are also Irish with their large clans, Mexicans (not to be confused with Colombians), and immigrants from the USSR, and did not learn to speak without an accent.
So, Sebastian is an ordinary manager, his father is a female hairdresser, the bride of Ellie in the spirit of the American dream – from the dynasty of millionaire hoteliers. Social stratification is obvious, but then Ellie declares that Sebastian is simply obliged to invite old Salvo to meet her parents. A dinner invitation from hosts of a different standard of living, a different class and a different ethnic group is a classic from the time of Stanley Kramer ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," a 1967 story of a white bride and black groom). Screenwriter Maniscalco is a comedian known in the United States for his political incorrectness. And the tagline promises, "He'll clean everyone's feathers." But what is possible in stand-up shows is apparently impossible on the screen – the Hayes Code is canceled, but there are rules of the MPAA – the American Association of Film Companies. Friendship of peoples and estates is another shrine, and the screenwriter has to get out so that the aroma of pepper is somehow noticeable in his dish.
But, alas, everything centrifugally strives for a happy ending, and applications for conflicts are exhausted by eating the host peacock, the ridiculous haircut of Ellie’s mother and the miraculous transformation of the younger son of millionaires from a hypochondriac into a great philosopher, and the elder from a Princeton stallion into a simple cowboy on a helicopter. A pleasant hour and a half ends with Sebastian refusing to become a hotel manager, because it is also not in the American spirit to come to the ready. The film is very traditionally defending traditional values – albeit a little boring, but according to the rules.
Distributors promised ' uncouth' comedy, but as for me quite a family film turned out, of those that you can watch with children. On the relationship between generations and representatives of different social strata and cultures.
Sebastian has been dating artist Ellie for a long time and is going to propose to her. The moment for this chooses the most suitable - the celebration of Independence Day with the relatives of the girl in their family mansion. Sebastian goes to his father for an engagement ring belonging to his Italian grandmother. But the father agrees to give the family heirloom only on the condition that the reader himself will attend the celebration.
Salvo and Sebastian, first-generation Italian migrants, arrive at the Ellie family mansion. They are also immigrants, but of a different kind. In their names there are serial numbers, and the genus has more than one century.
Naturally, the meeting of arrogant Anglo-Saxons and an Italian hairdresser cannot do without curiosities and misunderstandings. But this is a comedy, and therefore it will end well and cheerfully.
Separately, I want to note that the film is not vulgar, as it may seem from the trailer. This is what you need for a good evening.
“The Weekend with the Father” belongs to the category of films, skipping which, you absolutely will not lose anything, but if you look, you will not regret the time spent.
The film has a small timekeeping, so it does not have time to get bored, maintaining a quite acceptable density of jokes throughout the entire hour and a half. Predicted a little more than completely, "The Weekend with Batya" attracts attention not with plot twists, but with funny situations that arise in the process of meeting two families: immigrants from Sicily Sebastian (Sebastian Maniscalco) and Salvo (Robert De Niro) and aristocrats-millionaires.
I am glad that DeNiro in his almost eighty is in great shape: not only physical, but also acting. Despite the fact that his role is not that difficult, watching him is just pleasant. Other actors are worthy of support for the main star of the film. In particular, I want to highlight Maniscalko, who coped with the main role, and Cattrall, who acted as a sweet mother with mood swings.
There are also conflicts in the film, but they are, frankly, ticked. Even those moments that, it would seem, should make the heart tremble, emotional response is not found precisely in connection with the very predictability: you know that everything will be fine anyway.
Weekend with Batya is a one-time movie. But this one time he does his job well.