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Back Shelf Beauties
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The Thing About My Folks Late at night, you can feel the fall chill in the air, so you know what that means. It's time for movies where people talk about stuff. They'll talk about their hopes, their dreams, their feelings, their past, their wives, their husbands, their kids, their parents, their homes and on and on and on. Yes, it's Oscar season. Paul Reiser stars as Ben - a writer who lives in New York with his wife, Rachel (Elizabeth Perkins), and three daughters. One night, his father, Sam (Peter Falk), unexpectedly shows up, and you know that means trouble. Ben's mother has run away from home, leaving a note to Sam making it clear she is very unhappy with the life they have led and the marriage they shared. While Ben's sisters and wife begin a search, Ben takes Sam on a trip upstate to look at a farmhouse, and it becomes a huge adventure for both. Will Ben's Mom ever come back? Has Sam been in the wrong all of these years, and can he make amends? Written by Reiser, The Thing About My Folks brings out the best in Falk and Reiser as they embark on a winding exploration of their lives, and share experiences they never had before. Reiser's script flows naturally as we see funny and sad discussions among all of the characters, especially Father and Son, who start to discuss issues they never tackled before and start to compare their individual recollections of the past. Generational ideas about what makes a good husband clash. Father and Son start to be seen as people instead of roles in the family structure. Secrets from the past are revealed and more. Yet, Reiser's words flow off the page and through the characters without speechifying, always powerful and starkly revealing in a natural way. The actors have a little something to do with that. Most of us know Falk as the wacky detective Columbo, but The Thing About My Folks gives him a chance to show the world how good he has always been when no one was paying attention. He makes Sam into a larger than life character with grandiose physical gestures, an ability to make us laugh at his rants and the gift to reel us in and make us cry as we see his pain in the quiet moments. It's one of the best performances I have seen all year and one that may bring him a third Academy Award nomination. Reiser is right there in the acting trench with Falk and brings us memorable fights with his father, and even better, and much more hilarious, reactions to Sam's behavior. Reiser always makes us realize Ben has never looked at his father as a guy, just as his Dad, so every step of the journey is a revelation. The film doesn't quite hit the emotional highs at the end, but everything leading up to that point is fantastic. The Thing About My Folks opens in NY and LA September 16, and across the country in the following weeks. 3 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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