Everybody's fine (2009)

So... I've seen many a bad movie in my life. I've seen Hero, I've seen Pollock, I've seen El mariachi, I've seen The Widow of Saint-Pierre, I've seen The Passion of the Christ, I've seen Coctail - and probably you have seen these pieces of schlock, too. Kirk Jones' Everybody's fine may not belong to the worst of the worst but still, it's pretty bad. Yes, it may be a harmless Christmas movie trying to elicit your tender emotions but some of the cinematic "techniques" employed here are so tacky that I spent most of the movie being embarrassed, most of all I feel sorry for Robert De Niro who tries to make what he can (which he doesn't do very skillfully) of the meager material which trudges along a very familiar and predictable path: the path toward self-discovery and reconciliation. He plays a working-class daddy whose kids are too busy too see him so he goes to see them instead. If you want one clarifying example of how flash-backs are NOT to be used - Everybody's fine may be your guiding light.