Like Father Like Son

DeNiro is the wrong choice in a sad tale of Hopeless Homeless and Helpless 

 By Morgan P Salvo

Sometimes movies with great ideas show huge promise and nothing else. With Being Flynn I was under the impression that this might be some sort of comeback for DeNiro after about two straight decades of duds. This is simply not the case.

Based on the memoir “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” by playwright and poet Nick Flynn, describing Flynn's reunion with his estranged father, Jonathan, an alcoholic resident of the homeless shelter where Nick was a social worker in the late 1980s this flick falters back and forth without any real rhythm relying on the fact that committing this ingenious idea to celluloid will be in itself a payoff. Not so much.

Touching at times, not enough energy is poured into this thing. We get to see the lives of lowlifes from different backgrounds as we first follow Nick (Paul Dano) who is semi-down and out looking for a cheap pace to live and any work he can find who finally meets his father(DeNiro), who is a delusional alcoholic roaming the streets doing odd jobs like driving cab. Here the full circle Taxi Driver reference is right in front of your face but it seems director Paul Weitz overlooks the significance.

  Flynn cuts back and forth from present day to the past as teenager Nick receives letters from this stranger of a father a self-proclaimed poet and con man doing time in federal prison for embezzlement as we watch the toll this takes on his overworked mom (Julianne Moore) to inevitable suicide, and the trajectory that led Nick and his father (both addicts) onto the streets, into that shelter, and finally to each other. Dad, prone to racial and sexual rants and raves, can’t keep a grip on reality as son struggles to be a writer but has too many inner demons pulling on his creative path. Alcoholism and madness runs in the family the as do blocks of creativity by substance abuse. Sounds promising right?

 First off this flick is too self aware (conscious) of how clever its cinematic attempts are. It has independent film written all over it. It’s sad that the movie suffers hugely because of it.

There are some really nice moments but when an actual tone is achieved it seems to dissipate then quickly dissolve into the next scene. We get the kind of pathos decent theater is all about but here the ball is dropped one too many times down a hopeless gutter. Dead pan and quirky Flynn’s problem is the disjointed way it chooses to travel never letting you in on any character’s feelings we just see them go through the motions of being devastated by booze or drugs and being hurt physically or emotionally. Using only Badly Drawn Boy as its soundtrack source (with the uplifting exception of the Butthole Surfers for a dance scene) mainly just emphasizes the indie quirk-fest stamp

What Robert DeNiro can do well is play a thug, a mob guy, a maniac or a dolt. The part he cannot play is an intellectual especially a messy alcoholic artist with elocution. He can play the mess but only comes off angry not intelligent. It’s a shame because a bunch of different actors come to mind who could have pulled this off like say Brian Cox or even…Walken. DeNiro lacks the ability to convey creative genius no matter how well he memorizes his lines. Fuming and simplistic DeNiro never reaches the heights a character like this strives for. A once great writer (in his mind) turned ultimate loser demands the essence of Shakespearean greatness. DeNiro just slugs it out through rage and bile spewing.

Dano (There will be Blood), on the other hand overtly passive aggressive, pulls off a great characterization of a troubled loser destined to follow in his fathers footsteps as he tries a myriad of self-help drugs and alcohol. Julianne Moore is competent (as always) in her small role of Mom but the reasoning behind her suicide is absolutely flawed. Olivia Thirlby truly breathes life into her role as she shows true compassion and pain when things go right and/or wrong.

What’s wrong here is Paul Weitz as director. His other two directorial outings (Little Fockers and Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant) I haven’t been able to sit through. With Weitz at the helm it’s certainly understandable why DeNiro gets away with his performance. Both guilty of a totally out-of-touch concept of comedy transfer this commodity to drama. This movie feels like the director just lifts ideas and techniques from other more serious (and way better) filmmakers and can’t quite find his voice attempting no form of homage like say DePalma or Tarantino. There’s also dual narration between Dano and DeNiro which makes me want to go back and count how many flicks DeNiro has narrated in his career. 

Being Flynn is a cool story when it starts to unfold this version just lacks the spunk and energy to tell it relying solely on a great premise. Throughout Flynn senior is working on his great American novel to rival J D Salinger called “Memoirs of a Moron”. That’s an apt title for this flick, another is “Gone with the Wind” but I hear that one’s already taken.

 

Being Flynn

Starring Robert DeNiro, Paul Dano, Julianne Moore, Olivia Thirlby

Directed by Paul Weitz

2 stars