Everybody's Fine

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• Jeff Blake | November 15, 2011Reply

  A great movie. This actually reminds me of this movie that's coming out soon called Your Good Friend. It's like a realistic, mockumentary-type version of Everybody's Fine.

• Christina Todosychuk | October 7, 2010Reply

  Everyone Can Relate to Everybody’s Fine After receiving recognition in the television advertisement world, writer/director Kirk Jones tried his hand in the movie business. With only two films under his belt (Waking Ned, 1998; Nanny McPhee, 2005), Jones was able to recruit big-screen talent to bring his rewrite of Giuseppe Tonatore’s Stanno Tutti Bene (Italy, 1990) to Hollywood audiences in his latest film entitled Everybody’s Fine. In a cast that includes Robert DeNiro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sam Rockwell, Jones tells a heart-warming and emotional, yet comedic, story about Frank (DeNiro), a retired telephone-wire coverer, father of four grown children, and recent widow, who is desperately trying to fill his late wife’s shoes by keeping his family connected. To his dismay, his plans for a family reunion are foiled when his children (Barrymore, Beckinsale and Rockwell) drop out at the last minute. Never one to give up, Frank sets out for the big cities – New York, Chicago, Denver and Las Vegas – against doctor’s orders in order to reconnect with his family. Along his travels, however, Frank uncovers his naivety, as years of deceit by his wife and children are revealed from them always “tell[ing him] the good news and spar[ing him] the bad news.” Little by little, Frank pieces the lies together, but it’s a heart attack (brought on by his fear of flying) that brings him to his revelation. Just as storm Alice (which Frank learns means “truth” in Greek) sweeps through the coast, a storm of unraveling lies sweeps through Frank’s life, leading him to discover that his advertising-executive daughter is not living a happy married life; his supposed world-famous conductor son is actually a mediocre percussionist in a local symphony; his dancer daughter is a lesbian waitress with an illegitimate child; and his artist son has overdosed in Mexico. Frank’s trip becomes a journey of self-discovery in which he learns that he put far too much pressure on his children while they were growing up, and their disconnect from him is a result of always wanting to make him proud and the fear of disappointing him by not being successful in life. Meanwhile, his children experience their own self-discovery: that they’ve hurt their father more in keeping the truth from him than they would have hurt him by sharing the bad news with him all these years. Consequently, Jones is able to tie five different stories into one by connecting them all through telephone wires. These symbolize success to Frank. Having worked his whole life in a factory where he covered telephone wires, he states that he covered “a million feet of wire to get [his children] where they are today.” Furthermore, he ponders “all the conversations that have taken place over that wire, breaking good news and bad news.” This is reminiscent, as well as foreshadowing, because throughout the years he had learned nothing but good news from the telephone conversations his wife shared with his children, but throughout the movie his children connect with him and each other only to share bad news. This symbol, however, becomes revolutionized at the end of the movie when Frank purchases a piece of artwork, created by his son, depicting a landscape scene dominated by telephone poles and wires. The telephone wires now represent love. Though his wife and son have passed, Frank is still connected to them by the memory of the telephone wires through the artwork. However, now that he has reconnected with his remaining family, he no longer depends on the nostalgia that the telephone wires once provided for him. Furthermore, Jones’ intricate use of allegory is complemented by his talented cast. DeNiro does an excellent job of portraying a naïve, male widow who must learn to adapt to his new life (cooking, cleaning, running a household, and sustaining a family connection) in the absence of his wife. The audience partakes in his emotional journey, facing the ups and downs with him along the way. Beckinsale successfully models the role of the power women -working moms in today’s society whose family lives often suffer as a result of the numerous hours required by them to be successful in business and family. Rockwell also suits his role as the disappointment to his father – the child who has wasted countless years and dollars pursuing an education for something he was only doing to appease his father in the first place. Finally, Barrymore succeeds as the less-than-ideal daughter to her father’s generation, having a child out of wedlock, and pursuing a lesbian lifestyle. This character mix creates a family dynamic not uncommon in today’s society, making Everbody’s Fine a movie that everyone can relate to.