About My Father

Directed by Laura Terruso, About My Father details the culture clash that ensues after Sebastian (Sebastian Maniscalco) and his old-school dad (Robert De Niro’s Salvo) travel to his girlfriend’s (Leslie Bibb’s Ellie) family home. Filmmaker Terruso, armed with Maniscalco and Austen Earl’s screenplay, delivers a pervasively hackneyed endeavor that fares best in its easy-going, relatively watchable first half, as the movie’s sitcom-like atmosphere is, at the outset, allayed by the affable performances and smattering of compelling sequences – with, in terms of the latter, a funny scene wherein both Sebastian and Salvo mock their wealthy hosts and environment standing as an obvious highlight. And while the brisk running time ensures that the movie never entirely wears out its welcome, About My Father does, perhaps inevitably, progress into an increasingly generic second half overflowing with eye-rolling sentiment and uncomfortably broad, hackneyed jokes (eg the fate of the family’s pet peacock) – which does, when coupled with the far-from-surprising/satisfying finale, cement the picture’s place as a forgettable vehicle for star Maniscalco.

** out of ****