One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes involves dentist Tim Whatley converting to Judaism, and the priest asking Jerry if that offends him "as a Jew", to which he replies no, that it in fact offends him "as a comedian".
About My Father is a long joke about Sicilians...and while Sebastian Maniscalco might not have "converted" for the joke, well, it just kinda offends me as a comedian. There is nothing really special about this guy from a different background goes to meet his fiancée's family story. I mean, in all honesty, there is never any hint that the supposed "must be bigoted because their ancestors came over on the Mayflower" family ever look down upon our hero. About the biggest "drama" is that they want to (gasp) give him a job to help get their daughter to move closer to home and that they (gasp) wound up buying their daughter's art to help bolster her fledgling career.
There are a few comedic "misunderstandings" including Sebastian being ashamed he has taken tennis lessons, a hated haircut that turns out to be a hit, and a cooked up peacock.
Among the highlights to this movie were the acting by not only DeNiro, but Kim Cattrall and old Sledgehammer himself Dave Rasche. I didn't quite buy 50-year old Sebastian Maniscalco as the lead just getting ready to propose to his girlfriend.
In the end, however, the primary redeeming quality of this film - and what makes its worth the 90 or so minutes the viewer will invest in it - is the understanding reached between a father and his son, and the son's understanding that for all his father's perceived "faults" the most important thing is that the father loves the son unconditionally, and the son realizes all his father has done for him. This turns the score of this film that I was close to turning off after 10 minutes from a 3 to a respectable 6.
This message is somewhat personal to me as, my father happens to live in one of the gated communities that served as a location for this film in Loxley, Alabama called "Steelwood". I often joke that they put up a gate to "keep people like me out".
About My Father is a long joke about Sicilians...and while Sebastian Maniscalco might not have "converted" for the joke, well, it just kinda offends me as a comedian. There is nothing really special about this guy from a different background goes to meet his fiancée's family story. I mean, in all honesty, there is never any hint that the supposed "must be bigoted because their ancestors came over on the Mayflower" family ever look down upon our hero. About the biggest "drama" is that they want to (gasp) give him a job to help get their daughter to move closer to home and that they (gasp) wound up buying their daughter's art to help bolster her fledgling career.
There are a few comedic "misunderstandings" including Sebastian being ashamed he has taken tennis lessons, a hated haircut that turns out to be a hit, and a cooked up peacock.
Among the highlights to this movie were the acting by not only DeNiro, but Kim Cattrall and old Sledgehammer himself Dave Rasche. I didn't quite buy 50-year old Sebastian Maniscalco as the lead just getting ready to propose to his girlfriend.
In the end, however, the primary redeeming quality of this film - and what makes its worth the 90 or so minutes the viewer will invest in it - is the understanding reached between a father and his son, and the son's understanding that for all his father's perceived "faults" the most important thing is that the father loves the son unconditionally, and the son realizes all his father has done for him. This turns the score of this film that I was close to turning off after 10 minutes from a 3 to a respectable 6.
This message is somewhat personal to me as, my father happens to live in one of the gated communities that served as a location for this film in Loxley, Alabama called "Steelwood". I often joke that they put up a gate to "keep people like me out".