ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Jane Seymour

Dinner with Friends: [Un]happy Friendsgiving

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In Dinner with Friends, Abby is a single woman suffering from a recent break who is dreading the day’s Thanksgiving celebrations. When she commits to spend the day with her dear friend Molly (Malin Akerman), a movie star and recent divorcee, Abby believes that she can make it through the holiday… until she discovers that Molly has invited her new lover Jeff (Jeff Donnelly) to dinner. As the group begins to grow with more and more friends attending and an unwelcome surprise visit by Molly’s trainwreck mother (Jane Seymour), Abby and Molly soon become overwhelmed by the group and the holiday celebration spins out of control.

While it doesn’t feel like it fully lives up to its potential, there’s enough about this Dinner to bring you to the table. The debut feature of writer/director Nicol Paone, Dinner with Friends (or Friendsgiving, as it’s known south of the border) is a bit of a mixed bag that both entertains and frustrates at times. 

There is something genuinely charismatic about the premise of friends gathering together instead of the traditional family atmosphere. This environment allows for a slight twist on the relationships that we’ve seen in other films like this where people are forced together for the holiday. For her first feature, Paone shows a confidence and creativity behind the camera in her ability to include different cinematic looks, such as ‘dating video’ imagery and her unique visuals during drug-affected conversations. However, at the same time, while switching between storytelling styles does give the film an element of texture, it can also be jarring and create a lack of cohesiveness.

Even so, the cast is certainly ready for the festivities. As she often does, Akerman anchors the film with her performance with a spark of life. As the connecting tissue through most of the relationships, Molly’s character holds the film together and Akerman truly shines in the spotlight. (However, almost equally important to the film is Donnelly as the philanthropic—and often shirtless—Jeff who hilariously charms as he balances humility and bizarre behaviour throughout the film.) Genuine and entertaining performances by Aisha Tyler, Chelsea Peretti, Denning and an absolutely wild Jane Seymour also keep the film entertaining, even when the story drags. 

As with many films about Thanksgiving, Dinner focuses on the dysfunctional relationships that can be highlighted when family (or friends) get together for the holidays. Grief and pain bubble to the surface when held up against relationships that seem more steady. More grounded personalities become unhinged when free spirits let themselves go. However, amidst the emotional chaos, the soul of the film lies in the fact that we all have brokenness that needs to be healed. Whether it’s the damage of past relationships or general dissatisfaction with one’s life, every one of us has endured hardship and can struggle to move forward. 

Between Molly and Abby, the relational fall-out differs in their approach. While Abby is left frozen in her hurt, Molly lives in denial about her pain and attempts to move ahead too quickly with a new lover. While both find distinct ways to cope, they nevertheless have both experienced betrayal which leave them feeling lost. However, as they fight through their woundedness, their relationship of mutual support also proves as a solid foundation for recovery. By hurting together, they also begin to find a way to heal together. In this way, Dinner shows the way in which community has the power to offer hope rather than merely tear down.

Although it has its flaws, there’s enough to enjoy about Dinner with Friends to help yourself to a viewing. With energetic performances from its cast, Paone does tell a story that [mostly] bounces along with enthusiasm.

Though, honestly, I just might not go back for seconds.

Dinner with Friends is available on VOD on November 10, 2020 and on BluRay and DVD on November 24th, 2020.

The War With Grandpa: Battle of the Boys

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You know it’s never wise to engage in a war with your grandfather when your grandfather is Robert DeNiro.

Known for roles like Al Capone (The Untouchables), Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) and Vito Corleone (The Godfather: Part II), DeNiro has built his career playing violent mobsters who will stop at nothing to crush his enemies. However, roles in Analyze This and Meet the Parents have also proven that he’s more than willing to joke about the characters for which he’s best known when given the chance. With The War with Grandpa, DeNiro again shows a willingness to have fun at his own expense in an unexpectedly charming family film that gets its laughs but never loses its heart.

In The War with Grandpa, DeNiro plays Ed, an aging widower who can no longer take care of himself. When his daughter Sally (Uma Thurman) invites him to live with her family, he resists, believing that he can continue on his own. When Ed finally relents and moves in with their family, Sally’s son Peter is forced to give up his room to his grandfather. Relegated to the attic, Peter vows revenge on the perceived intruder and schemes with his friends to get his grandfather to give up his room once more. After Ed refuses to give in, the two begin an all-out war for the space.

Directed by Tim Hill (Hop), The War with Grandpa is a surprisingly likeable film that will entertain children with its wild antics but should still manage to charm the adults in the room as well. Despite the fact that the film is ultimately forgettable, there really is a lot to like about it. In many ways, Grandpa feels like a throwback to some of the classic John Hughes films of the 90’s such as Home Alone or Dennis the Menace. Like Kevin Malone or Dennis Mitchell, Peter’s ‘declaration of war’ invariably leads to playful pranks to prove his worth in an attempt to be heard or valued by the adults in his life. However, unlike Hughes, War with Grandpa doesn’t demonize the adults by portraying them as unsympathetic monsters. In fact, for the most part, Ed is a caring, supportive grandfather who loves his family and genuinely wants to make things work, despite his flaws. As the grieving grandpa, DeNiro brings a compassion to his character that humanizes him, despite the chaotic circumstances.

Much will be made by reviewers who feel it’s strange (or even sad) to see icons like DeNiro, Thurman, and Christopher Walken pander to slapstick humour in this type of film. Personally, I don’t see the issue. All of these stars have poked fun at their violent roles in the past, with mixed results. (Let’s not forget that DeNiro starred in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, even if he’d for like us to do so.) More importantly, The War with Grandpa often makes use of their talent and, to their credit, most of the cast are unexpectedly engaged with the material. 

What’s most interesting about Grandpa though is the fact that it tries not to glorify the war itself. While Ed and Peter compete in escalating pranks that are played up for laughs, the effects of the pranks are not always funny. On several occasions, Ed and Peter discuss the fact that ‘no one wins in a war’ and ‘everyone gets hurt in the end’. Although nobody gets physically hurt in Grandpa, the emotional consequences and frustration leave marks on the family. In this way, it’s an interesting balance between slapstick humour and social commentary for a kid’s film, especially compared to those same John Hughes movies of the 90s that played up the violence as harmless in the end (or even glorified the child in doing so). In Grandpa, the ultimate goal is peace within the home and the film recognizes that no amount of pranks will achieve that.

Wild and ridiculous, The War with Grandpa is admittedly not going to be the film that people point to when they look over the highlights of DeNiro’s career. Even so, Grandpa is much more fun than expected and DeNiro ensures that the film has genuine heart in the right moments. With that in mind, this may be one War you want to get into.

The War with Grandpa is now available on VOD.

HotDocs ’17: Becoming Bond

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“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” – Winston Churchill

Opening with the above Churchill quote the documentary Becoming Bond may be the strangest example of story-telling in recent memory.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum, Becoming Bond tells the story of one-and-done Bond actor George Lazenby—or rather, allows Lazenby to tell his own story. Combining both interview, archival footage and dramatic recreations of his life, the film recounts Lazenby’s life from a young Australian ‘larrikin’ until after his role as the famed British agent in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  (Incidentally, the film even explains the surprising reason why Lazenby only took on the iconic role once.)  Sharing his relationships, sexual conquests and, of course, his experience as Bond, the film is both character piece and classic comedy at the same time.

In his interview segments, one can see why Lazenby—now seventy-six years old—was offered the Bond role in the first place.  While he comes from modest roots (he was actually a used car salesman prior to this acting debut), Lazenby still has incredible charm, confidence and a playful sense of braggadocio.  In many ways, he is the underdog that you cannot help but cheer on.  (No spoilers but his account of how he actually locks down the James Bond role is so bizarre that you simply won’t believe it.)

And, herein lies the irony of Becoming Bond.

While Lazenby seems earnest in his desire to share openly all aspects of his life, the film constantly seems to wink at the audience in the most playful of ways.  Through its use of studio sets in the historic re-enactments, the imagery takes on an ‘old Hollywood’ look (incidentally, not unlike the Bond films themselves).  By casting recognizable actors (Dana Carvey, Jane Seymour, Jeff Garlin, and more) in key roles, Greenbaum also manages to take the audience out of the documented moment, giving it the feel of a television sit-com or Monty Python sketch. Through the use of all of these stylistic devices, the film spins its narrative in such a way as to be both convincing and unbelievable.

While not necessarily it’s goal (or is it?), Becoming Bond actually raises some interesting questions about the nature of truth in this regard.  Is an event true because it’s how we remember it?  (After all, when asked how much of his story is true, Lazenby seamlessly answers “How could I remember it if it isn’t true?”)  Is it objective? Becoming Bond seems to land somewhere in between, where truth is a living construct, constantly moving in the ebb and flow of memory. In the end, Lazenby’s tale is one you absolutely want to believe—but does that mean it’s actually true?  After all, as Lazenby believes, “You can defy what people expect of you and write your own story.”

This is a story that is so intriguing, you’ll have to see it to believe it.

Trust me.

Becoming Bond is playing at May 3, 8:30 pm, TIFF 1; May 4, 3:45 pm,Isabel Bader; May 5, 7 pm, TIFF 1