After years of working in the film industry as a director of photography, the time has come for Lawrence Sher to get behind the camera in person. To start his career, the director decides to try his hand at a classic American comedy based on an old script written some time ago by Justin Malen. After a series of long and troubled shots Bastards will be released in American theaters under the name of Father Figures. Distributed in the beautiful country from Warner Bros. IOur audience will get to know it with the ignoble translation of 2 great children of ...
The main plot of the film revolves around the bizarre pair of twins composed by Peter and Kyle Reynolds, played respectively by Ed Elms and Owen Wilson: one a serious and dutiful doctor and the other an optimistic and carefree model. Both are raised by a single mother named Helen to whom Glenn Close lends the face. When they discover that the father believed to be dead until now is still alive and well, they will begin their adventure in search of their true biological father.
Delving into Helen's turbulent past, where apparently monogamy was hardly a priority, the brothers will find themselves cruising the country far and wide, bouncing from clue to clue between increasingly familiar faces. From football celebrities like Terry Bradshaw and Ving Rhames to other well-known faces such as those of JK Simmons and Christopher Walken, the important names will certainly not be missing in this cast. For the entire duration of the film the story will always hold up poised between insane and profound. Alternating moments of emotional reflection with comic scenes that unfortunately will never be able to fully convince the viewer.
The script, however simple and linear, will still find some interesting ideas on a narrative and sentimental level. There strong characterization of the characters is respectable given the interpreters assigned, but it is deleterious in the long run, slowing everything down. Fortunately some well-aimed twists help to lift the rhythm of the comedy from the halo of banality of which it is full from the beginning. Even the montage of the various travel scenes it is impactful and well done compared to the general result that is instead completely mediocre and nothing remarkable among the various cinema releases.
Once done 2 great children of ... it will be neither innovative nor memorable. A frivolous and light vision to be granted, but nothing more. As previously said, the feature film will in fact be perpetually surrounded by scenes that in the end will never be able to snatch a smile or a tear. Furthermore, the pivotal sentimental dynamics of the same will not assert themselves too vigorously and will result in a final rhetoric. banal and obvious. If we take everything for what it is the final result is not bad after all, but in essence not so out of the lines or exciting as to deserve the vision at the expense of many other alternatives available in today's landscape.
