Friends I know and trust love Sebastian Maniscalco's comedy. I've never seen his act, but he holds his own against screen giant Robert De Niro in the lightweight new comedy ABOUT MY FATHER.
Maniscalco plays Sebastian, a second generation Italian, Hilton hotel manager in love with Ellie, an aspiring artist from a very wealthy family.
Sebastian's Dad Salvo (De Niro) is old-school, hard working and recently widowed.
When Ellie's family invites the young couple to their country estate for the Fourth of July weekend, Sebastian decides to pop the question.
Soon, Salvo is invited to join the rich, eccentric family and hijinks ensue.
De Niro and Maniscalco have a comfortable chemistry and they nail the fish-out-of-water jokes flawlessly as working class Salvo enters a whole different world.
His comments on his morning walk with his son are pure Bobby D. "What did she steal the gym equipment? Don't these people have jobs?"
Ellie's family is well cast and funny.
Kim Cattrall (Big Trouble in Little China) is Ellie's Mom Tigger, a successful politician and protective matriarch. David Rasche (United 93) is hilarious as Ellie's Dad, a fifth generation hotel chain owner who wants for nothing. Anders Holm (The Intern) nearly steals the movie as brother Lucky, so named because he's a party boy with zero ambition but all the perks. Brett Dier (Schooled) rounds out the family as younger brother Doug, a self -proclaimed "healer in training". Dier and Holm are complete opposites as brothers but both actors are perfect.
Leslie Bibb (Ironman) is the only weak link in the cast as Ellie, the rest of the family blows her off the screen. She really only holds her own against Maniscalco. He's fine. Not great, but hugely likeable and winning, especially in the film's more emotional turns.
De Niro is hilarious every moment he's on screen.
A holiday weekend tennis match is a highlight, as is an ill-fated yacht excursion.
De Niro's attempts to fit into the country club lifestyle are laugh out loud funny and his observations about the easy life are perfectly delivered.
"Goodfellas" fans will find at least one scene to be a riot.
The movie suffers from Maniscalco's narration that seems comfortable in the opening few minutes as he introduces his family, but grows tiresome later in the movie. It's hard to feel the more dramatic moments when his narration constantly breaks the silence to tell us how he's feeling. It feels like a clumsy tool in the hands of a first-time screenwriter.
De Niro and Maniscalco are a lot of fun and ABOUT MY FATHER serves up an enjoyable, if predictable comedy that gets a C+.
Cut the narration and give those brothers more screen time and that grade immediately improves.
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