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The Thing About My Folks [Widescreen]

Actor(s): Peter Falk, Paul Reiser, Elizabeth Perkins, Olympia Dukakis
Director(s): Raymond de Felitta
21

Movie Details

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations
Movie Release: 2005
DVD Release: 02/14/2006
Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 38 mins
Studio: New Line Home Video
Total Copies: 10
Genres: Comedy Drama, Road Movie, Family Drama

DVD Synopsis

A middle-aged man finds himself dealing with the divorce of his elderly parents as well as many years of emotional baggage in this poignant comedy drama. Ben (Paul Reiser) is a writer who is enjoying a quiet evening at home with his wife, Rachel (Elizabeth Perkins), when they receive an unexpected visitor, Ben's father, Sam (Peter Falk). As it happens, Sam has some surprising news -- his wife, Muriel (Olympia Dukakis), has left him, leaving behind a note saying she wants some time alone. While Ben gets in touch with his sisters, who immediately set out to track down Muriel, he is left to deal with Sam while he tries to figure out what has gone wrong. Eager to spend some time with his dad to talk things out, Ben invites Sam along for a trip upstate to look at some property he's interested in buying, and as the two men hit the road, they get a chance to get to know one another in a way Sam, a busy salesman, was unable to do when Ben was a boy. The Thing About My Folks was a pet project for Paul Reiser, who wrote the screenplay as well as playing the lead; he'd had the script in the works for 20 years, and always intended for Peter Falk to play the role of Sam. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Actors

Peter Falk - Sam Kleinman
Paul Reiser - Ben Kleinman
Elizabeth Perkins - Rachel Kleinman
Olympia Dukakis - Muriel Kleinman

Member Movie Reviews

S A A. (Learned2Heal) wrote on 11/6/2009...

Meh. This will not go down in history as a memorable movie. At least not for me it won't. The only thing memorable about it would be Peter Falk's less than masterful overdoing of the Jewish father schtick. And I generally have quite a soft spot for Peter Falk...

The movie overall was OK, but just in the most general sense. The plot line started out interesting but fizzled badly in the end. No real strength to the whole story. Paul Reiser did not do his best work here either. I don't think any of the actors really meshed with each other. Instead of telling a story, they kept kind of acting "at" each other. There was a woodenness about the whole effect. Even the great Olympia Dukakis could not get into her character's groove. And you only saw her for about ten minutes at the very end. But it's the worst acting I've ever seen from her, ever. Which isn't saying much, I know, because she is otherwise a fabulous actress. Let's just say her acting in this probably embarrassed all her acting coaches. It was not good.

Elisabeth Perkins was pretty, as usual, but completely lacked character or depth. The few witty lines she was given somehow just didn't make the cut either. They all fell kind of flat. You somehow knew they were meant to be funny, but just couldn't see the actual funny part for yourself.

All in all, a pretty ho-hum little movie that I would never take the time to watch again.