George spent a lot of time as his Hawaii dad character in this film with a clueless, deer-in-the-headlights look that was funny at first, but became his standard look throughout due to his mostly absentee-father's inability to gain a clue about his family's inner workings and how to deal with them after his wife was badly injured and he had to take over as the functioning head of the family. With his injured and formerly cheating wife now almost dead, his unruly kids running amok, and his big family real estate deal not settled and very confusing, he was clearly out of his depth as a husband and a father and was totally baffled about the best way to lead his kids toward a better life and his many relatives toward their chance of a lifetime real estate deal that could make all of them fabulously wealthy. The workings of those problems were the basis of the story, with a bit of his Hawaiian heritage backstory included to round it out. Seeing George as other than his typically so-cool and suave self, and pulling it off well, showed us that he has learned to be a very good actor and can inhabit a role totally opposite his own persona and make us believe in it.
The film has been touted as a possible academy award contender, and it did have some good moments, but that accolade is a stretch, IMO. Most of the players did a good job in undemanding roles, but I was especially encouraged that his almost-dead wife in a coma was not glorified with lots of phony make up and an only-sleeping look in order to appear almost normal, as is done in most films. She looked realistically terrible, as she actually would in real life. But, the story lacked serious dramatic tension and mostly meandered toward a very predictable conclusion, both in the family's new-found cohesion and in the big real estate deal, and had no surprises at all so a higher rating was not truly earned. A good picture and worth seeing, but certainly not a great one.
The film has been touted as a possible academy award contender, and it did have some good moments, but that accolade is a stretch, IMO. Most of the players did a good job in undemanding roles, but I was especially encouraged that his almost-dead wife in a coma was not glorified with lots of phony make up and an only-sleeping look in order to appear almost normal, as is done in most films. She looked realistically terrible, as she actually would in real life. But, the story lacked serious dramatic tension and mostly meandered toward a very predictable conclusion, both in the family's new-found cohesion and in the big real estate deal, and had no surprises at all so a higher rating was not truly earned. A good picture and worth seeing, but certainly not a great one.