Everybody's Fine

A widowed dad makes a trek across the country to visit his four adult kids in four different cities. They're all hiding something from him about themselves and about their brother David. Poor old Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) gets the same phony smile and fake candor from each of his kids and he knows it, but what can he say?

This movie resonates with me because I'm Frank Goode. I don't have four adult kids, but I have kids and a wife, and they all keep certain things from me. Maybe, just like Frank, I'm pushing them too hard so they spare me the failures and the screw ups, or maybe that's what mothers and children do.

"Everybody's Fine" is a slow, mild, and tender movie about a father trying to connect with his kids. Robert De Niro puts on his best boomer dad act by haggling over prices, showing pictures of his kids to strangers, and ignoring his doctor. "Everybody's Fine" is emotional without being emotionally draining. It's a fine drama suitable for any audience.