We liked a lot this comedy about four adult children forced to hang out together after their father's death. The wonderful and plentiful cast brings the good story to life. Jason Bateman, Tiny Fey, Corey Stoll, Adam Driver, and Jane Fonda do justice to the siblings and their mother (last blogged in Bad Words, Admission, Midnight in Paris, Frances Ha, and Better Living Through Chemistry, respectively, and Stoll was particularly good in House of Cards), aided by Rose Byrne (The Place Beyond the Pines), Abigail Spencer (Rectify, Cowboys & Aliens), Kathryn Hahn (also in Bad Words), Connie Britton (profiled in The Fitzgerald Family Christmas), Timothy Olyphant (I didn't see Deadwood, Damages, nor Justified, but I liked The Safety of Objects (2001) and Catch and Release (2006)), Dax Shepard (Hit & Run), and Ben Schwartz (also in Better Living Through Chemistry). Though it's first Bateman's story, this is a true ensemble picture, in the manner of director Robert Altman's work. In fact, the movie family's name is Altman, having been changed from Foxman in Jonathan Tropper's 2010 novel. I can only hope that Tropper, who adapted his own book in his feature debut, had Robert Altman in mind. Fun trivia: the mother in the novel worked out to Jane Fonda tapes. In the movie, she's played by Jane Fonda.
We saw this on vacation on a rainy day in New York a couple of weeks ago, just as we saw director Shawn Levy's Date Night, which also featured Tina Fey, on vacation four years ago.
The light breezy music is courtesy of Michael Giacchino (most recently blogged in Star Trek Into Darkness). Here's a sample.
More haters are hating in Rotten Tomatoes' 42% critics, but 69% from audiences is more in line with the movie being #7 at the box office in its third week.
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