If Alan Ball had smoked a lot of weed while writing the screenplay for American Beauty, the film might have turned out something like The Family Tree.
Of course, that's an ironic statement because American Beauty was already pretty trippy, filled with eccentric characters, fantasy sequences, and offbeat humor. Once you see The Family Tree, however, you will better understand: if American Beauty was a portrait on a canvas, this film would be its caricature.
That's not the say that The Family Tree suffers because it borrows elements from 1999's Academy Award-winning comedy drama. Quite the contrary. The films share similarities, but the tones utilized are different to the point where this one doesn't feel "been there, done that," but fresh and engaging...and quite funny.
Still, it is impossible to deny the commonalities. The Family Tree focuses on a dysfunctional family, and opens as the family members are kicked out of a therapist's office after verbally attacking her. If they show up at her office again, it seems as if security would be promptly alerted.
The family includes Bunny (Hope Davis), the mother and cheating wife, Jack (Dermot Mulroney), the husband and father who spends office hours fantasizing about other women, Eric (Max Thieriot), their 17-year-old son whose passion and desired profession involves handguns, and his twin sister, Kelly (Britt Robertson), a rebel who presents herself as the slut-of-the-year.
One day, in the middle of a mid-day sexual encounter with her next door neighbor (Chi McBride), Bunny falls in the bathroom and knocks her head on the tile. When she wakes up in the hospital, she has little memory of recent years. The last thing she recalls is getting married to her husband.
At first, it would seem that their family has been given another chance. After all, Bunny -- the glue that has held the family together -- has no recollection of her children's dysfunctional behavior or her husband's emotional absence. Their marriage, more or less, picks up from when they first got hitched. All the while, Jack nails a promotion at his office. Things are really starting to look up...or are they?
The film is filled with so many subplots and supporting characters that it nearly gets lost in its own script. But Director Vivi Friedman maintains strong connection between the scenes, keeps the characters relevant, and sustains a consistent tone throughout, one that is bitingly comedic without being too over-the-top.
The Family Tree proudly raises a middle finger to traditional family values. Those who can appreciate a film with humor this dark and extreme will rejoice in its audacity, irony, and sarcastic attitude.
The film's sense of humor may be an acquired taste, but it still managed to attract an impressive cast, despite being Friedman's directorial debut. In addition to the leads, Selma Blair, Jane Seymour, Keith Carradine, Bow Wow, Christina Hendricks, and Gabrielle Anwar all make appearances, most of which are clever and memorable.
During the third act, the script begins to wrap up a bit too nicely. For a film with such a black, demented sense of humor (a young man who climbed a tree to masturbate while watching Bunny sleep spends most of the movie hanging from that tree, dead and unnoticed), perhaps a different conclusion would have proven more effective. As it stands, it is slightly too tidy and "feel-good."
That said, the finale doesn't hinder the film's impact. The actors share vibrant chemistry, and turn their characters into complex, three-dimensional beings, not just cartoons (which would have been easy to do given the film's silliness). The Family Tree is a rare find, one that has a blast insulting our values and mocking our morals. Some people will laugh; others will protest. Either way, this movie isn't afraid to deliver a message. Simply put...it has balls.
Of course, that's an ironic statement because American Beauty was already pretty trippy, filled with eccentric characters, fantasy sequences, and offbeat humor. Once you see The Family Tree, however, you will better understand: if American Beauty was a portrait on a canvas, this film would be its caricature.
That's not the say that The Family Tree suffers because it borrows elements from 1999's Academy Award-winning comedy drama. Quite the contrary. The films share similarities, but the tones utilized are different to the point where this one doesn't feel "been there, done that," but fresh and engaging...and quite funny.
Still, it is impossible to deny the commonalities. The Family Tree focuses on a dysfunctional family, and opens as the family members are kicked out of a therapist's office after verbally attacking her. If they show up at her office again, it seems as if security would be promptly alerted.
The family includes Bunny (Hope Davis), the mother and cheating wife, Jack (Dermot Mulroney), the husband and father who spends office hours fantasizing about other women, Eric (Max Thieriot), their 17-year-old son whose passion and desired profession involves handguns, and his twin sister, Kelly (Britt Robertson), a rebel who presents herself as the slut-of-the-year.
One day, in the middle of a mid-day sexual encounter with her next door neighbor (Chi McBride), Bunny falls in the bathroom and knocks her head on the tile. When she wakes up in the hospital, she has little memory of recent years. The last thing she recalls is getting married to her husband.
At first, it would seem that their family has been given another chance. After all, Bunny -- the glue that has held the family together -- has no recollection of her children's dysfunctional behavior or her husband's emotional absence. Their marriage, more or less, picks up from when they first got hitched. All the while, Jack nails a promotion at his office. Things are really starting to look up...or are they?
The film is filled with so many subplots and supporting characters that it nearly gets lost in its own script. But Director Vivi Friedman maintains strong connection between the scenes, keeps the characters relevant, and sustains a consistent tone throughout, one that is bitingly comedic without being too over-the-top.
The Family Tree proudly raises a middle finger to traditional family values. Those who can appreciate a film with humor this dark and extreme will rejoice in its audacity, irony, and sarcastic attitude.
The film's sense of humor may be an acquired taste, but it still managed to attract an impressive cast, despite being Friedman's directorial debut. In addition to the leads, Selma Blair, Jane Seymour, Keith Carradine, Bow Wow, Christina Hendricks, and Gabrielle Anwar all make appearances, most of which are clever and memorable.
During the third act, the script begins to wrap up a bit too nicely. For a film with such a black, demented sense of humor (a young man who climbed a tree to masturbate while watching Bunny sleep spends most of the movie hanging from that tree, dead and unnoticed), perhaps a different conclusion would have proven more effective. As it stands, it is slightly too tidy and "feel-good."
That said, the finale doesn't hinder the film's impact. The actors share vibrant chemistry, and turn their characters into complex, three-dimensional beings, not just cartoons (which would have been easy to do given the film's silliness). The Family Tree is a rare find, one that has a blast insulting our values and mocking our morals. Some people will laugh; others will protest. Either way, this movie isn't afraid to deliver a message. Simply put...it has balls.
