My wife and I were literally the only people in the theatre when we went to see About My Father and my theatre only had it on for one showing! I think the biggest problem About My Father has is that it was released in the middle of four pretty big box office draws in The Little Mermaid, Across the Spider-Verse, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and The Flash!
How to Stream or Download About My Father
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The Movie Review
It is a real shame too as this is a fun comedy/drama with a great cast and has Robert De Niro in it. The movie stars comedian Sebastian Maniscalco who co-wrote the script and from what I have read, it is loosely based on his relationship with his father. I enjoyed this one and think if you want a break from all those big-budget blockbusters, it is well worth going to see, if your local theatre is actually showing it that is!
The movie is about this engaged couple. We have Sebastian who is an Italian American and his lovely girlfriend, Ellie who is played by Leslie Bibb. Ellie comes from a rather wealthy and eccentric family and I got a real kick out of the likes of Kim Cattrall, David Rasche, Anders Holm, and Brett Dier being involved here.
Sebastian informs his father, Salvo (Robert De Niro) who is an Italian hairdresser that he plans to marry Ellie. Salvo insists on coming to visit her family so that they can get to know each other better. While we do have a lot of funny moments here as Salvo gets used to Ellies rather “out there” and kind of weird family. I think that the movie has a lot of heart about it too.
There are some moments that will make you laugh, but I would not say that this is as funny as something like one of the Meet the Parents movies. I felt that it leaned a little more toward drama than comedy, but I am not saying that is a bad thing. A lot of the comedy for me came from the way Di Niro would act to things and I did get more than a few chuckles out of the movie.
The whole Italian American thing is leaned on really hard here and I thought it had a lot of charm to it, but I could see it perhaps being a bit too much for some people. If I am being honest, I have heard of Sebastian Maniscalco, but I am not all that familiar with his comedy routine so perhaps if I was, I would have gotten more out of the comedy in this movie, I am sure for fans of his, it is going to be far more entertained.
Overall, I am glad that I went to see About My Father when I had the chance, I cannot see this getting much of a run at theatres due to all the big Hollywood blockbusters that are out around it. It was a fun drama/comedy movie and a real feel-good one at that. If your theatre is not showing it, I would say that it is worth checking out when it hits streaming
