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Director Raymond De Felitta handles the material with love and care. A movie that revolves mainly around two men talking could have become visually stale, but De Felitta sets most of the action in upstate New York, just when the autumn leaves are in their glory. Father and son cruise in a convertible along winding country roads, crossing rivers and streams. They visit a line-dancing country-western saloon. De Felitta avoids what he calls CRS (Camera Restlessness Syndrome) in favor of a simple and masterful use of camera that does not get in the way of the actors. It's an excellent example of doing great work without letting your technique show. The chemistry between Falk and Reiser, complemented by an insightful, moving script, allows this character-driven movie to unfold without gimmicks. We feel that we are watching real people in real situations.

Ben (Reiser) and Sam (Falk) look ridiculously out of place on their fishing expedition

Dukakis, as Sam's wife Muriel, turns in a moving performance in her brief scenes and gives the film weight, depth and resolution. Elizabeth Perkins, Mackenzie Connolly and Lydia Jordan are the busybody sisters whose sibling rivalry and filial love remain intact in middle age. They sparkle. The father, mother, and siblings are as different from one another as they could be, but they function as a noisy, loving family.

Most movies are targeted at teenagers and young adults, with the hope that children and older folks will buy tickets as well. The Thing About My Folks will probably play well to younger audiences, but it is that rare gift of a film that, like a deftly nuanced book, explores the deep issues that adults face as their parents age. But while it deals with weighty issues, it's just a lot of fun. The Seattle Film Festival audience howled with delight. Falk is a gruff curmudgeon, but not in the trite, condescending way that reduces so many old people to stereotypes. His gruffness and humor make him more, not less, human. Reiser has given us a film that makes us laugh while contemplating the ways we understand and misunderstand those we love.

Talk About It

1. How well do you understand your relationship with each of your own parents? What elements of those relationships are similar to, or different from, that of Sam and Ben?
   
   
2. Do you think that current parent-child relationships will escape the generation gap that baby boomers experienced?
   
   
3. How much detail should kids have about the trials of their parents' marriage?
   
   
4. Why do men, even fathers and sons, seem to have such a hard time becoming intimate with one another?
   
   
5. How is the work ethic of your father or son the same as, or different from, Sam's or Ben's?

The Family Corner

The Thing About My Folks is a warm-hearted, loving and redemptive film. It does contain a fair amount of coarse but not obscene language which develops Sam's gruff character.

Photos © Copyright Picturehouse

© Stefan Ulstein 2005, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Paul Reiser, best known for his work on the TV show "Mad About You" and his role in Aliens, wrote and starred in a comedy directed by Raymond De Felitta called The Thing About my Folks. The movie co-stars Peter Falk, and it has been earning less-than-enthusiastic reviews from mainstream critics.

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) is displeased with "the foul language, drug and alcohol content, and sexual situations that get a hefty amount of screen time." He says that's unfortunate, because of "the redeeming qualities found in this well-crafted, superbly acted indie flick. … The Thing About My Folks doesn't just commend strong marriages and tight-knit families, it honors them by casting aside the notion that affairs, material wealth or career aspirations could ever come close to replacing what God intended as the core of society. And in doing so, it holds up such virtues as faithfulness, perseverance, commitment, hope, forgiveness, acceptance and honesty."

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