THE FAMILY FANG

Screening season seems to have come a bit early this year; I’m glad it did because I just saw my first good one. The Family Fang was adapted from Kevin Wilson’s 2011 novel, and despite the strange name, it’s worth seeing, especially if you have your own weird fam. Misery loves company, right?

I have to admit that when it was over, I did wonder what it was all about, and what it all meant.  But I was sort-of fascinated along the way. It’s definitely a different story.

At first, I was wondering why make it. But, upon a few days reflection, I realize—why not? It’s far from your normal, predictable film, which is always a good thing. I had no idea what was going to happen at any point. At all. And that’s the way I like it. (It’s also why, as you regular readers know, I never tell you the story of a film or play or book; it’s for you to discover for yourselves. I feel no need to show my “reading comprehension” skills. Everyone can look-up a plot for themselves. I’m here to break down the good, the bad, and the ugly for you. In this case, though, there is no ugly. And very little bad. So it’s mainly all good.)

And, best of all, right from the start, the film gives us the best advice I’ve heard anywhere in the many years that I’ve been dealing with my own crazy family drama.  And that is: “If you’re in control, the chaos will happen around you instead of to you.”  [Note: I’m pretty sure that’s the exact quote, but please forgive me if I got a word or two wrong. I was writing it in a dark theatre, after all.]

So, let’s just say that the Fang family is a quartet of performance artist pranksters. On a grand scale. (When I saw this movie last week, I had just watched a recent episode of New Girl about annoying pranks, so, even though I myself am guilty of doing them on April Fool’s Day, I was already hating that foolery. But the pranks themselves are not the story here.)

The narrative of the novel lent itself perfectly to a film adaptation, and, aside from the questionable lighting that often hurt my eyes, it was done well.  The film does differ a bit from the novel, but oh well. Don’t they all? It’s also a tad slow, but just let it unfold, and I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

The entire film picks-up when Christopher Walken comes on. Really, who does not love them some Christopher Walken?! And this film reminds us of that fact. What an actor.

The casting, (once I got past Nicole Kidman’s still-discernible Aussie accent,) is spot-on. (I hate to say it, but she’s the only one who is perhaps a tad mis-cast. But she’s the one who discovered the novel, and produced the film, so I guess she was allowed to hire herself. And, being a major movie star, she’ll be a draw much more so than other actresses who might have been better for the role, so just go with it.)

I especially loved Maryanne Plunkett, who plays the mother.  For me, she’s the best one, even though the rest of the cast is uber-famous, and I had never seen her before. Her performance is so real. I felt her pain the entire time she was on-screen; we can totally see that her character knows that their antics are just crazy at that point, but she so wants to be totally supportive of her husband. Her scenes are what all actresses should study.

And Jason Butler Harner, as the younger version of Chris, is perfect. I kept thinking that I’ve seen him before, (which I must have because he’s been on TV a lot,) but when I looked up his credits, nothing stood out to me. So, in a way, that made it better. He was just the character.

And Jason Bateman is always adorable. (By the way, he’s also the director. And he directed himself well!!!)

Speaking of directing, it could not have been an easy task to make sure that the actors playing the Fangs at different ages portray them similarly to their older or younger counterparts. That was all done so seamlessly I almost didn’t realize the accomplishment!

I would classify this as a true dramedy.  To me, the plot becomes much more serious as it goes on, but the film does provide many chuckles, especially from Jason Bateman’s dry delivery.

I think I would have laughed even more if I had had Mr. X, a big Walken fan, with me, because, for the most part, we get the same humor.  Also, I saw it at an uber-private screening, with just a few strangers, so, I noticed that I was holding in most of my chortles, to not disturb anyone else.

The bottom line is this: go see The Family Fang. I have a feeling that, even though it’s not a film I’m in love with, I’ll be seeing it again. But this time with Mr. X, rather than a tired pal!