Relative Strangers
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DVD Review
Ratings And Purchasing Information
Review
The Movie:
Ron Livingston plays tightly-wound psychologist, Dr. Richard Clayton, who is first seen handing out glib advice on a radio talk-show whilst promoting his new book “Ready, Set, Let Go: A Guide to Anger Management”. He then goes to dinner at his ultra-conservative parents’ home with his fiancé (played by Neve Campbell) during which it is revealed that he was adopted. A detective is hired and swiftly finds his birth-parents. The Doctor’s dreams of bi-racial, liberal parents are shattered when a pair of trailer-trash types (played by Danny DeVito and Kathy Bates) show up at his doorstep for what turns out to be an extended visit. What follows is a series of predictable, contrived and unfunny scenes leading to the Doctor’s inevitable realisation that we have to accept where we came from.
Co-written by Greg Glienna who also wrote Meet the Parents and its follow-up Meet the Fockers, Greg has used his box–office clout to persuade the money-men to allow him to direct as well, which means that he can accept the blame on both counts. Chancing upon the “winning formula” of taking a rude word, changing the spelling and then using it as a surname of one of the characters which can then be mispronounced time and again ad nauseum, Greg has called the trailer-trash couple Frank and Agnes… the anticipation reaches fever pitch… Menure! Laugh? I never started; not throughout the entire miserable 86 minutes, that were, due to a time-warp caused by a mixture of tedium and thoughts of suicide, stretched out longer than Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Everyone’s idea of comic acting is to gurn through each scene to the extent that I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had put toilet seats round their necks before delivering their lines.
Livingston gives a performance that is so wooden I could have whittled it to a point and happily stabbed him and the rest of the cast with it. Campbell who plays the fiancé – this is the sane character that audiences are meant to identify with; the one that can accept the Menures for what they are, which in this case must be two-dimensional caricatures – almost beats Livingston in the bad acting stakes. She narrowly loses out by the fact she doesn’t convey every emotion by narrowing / widening her eyes (amazed, confused, surprised) or sticking out a bottom lip (sad, disappointed) but can also shake her head as well in time to both of these (one up for you Ms Campbell, well done).
To be fair Kathy Bates does look genuinely embarrassed to be part of this production and redeems herself in some of the scenes she is in – she is spared from my stabbing frenzy. However, Danny DeVito, a man whom I have genuinely admired for his directing skills (The War of the Roses) and who also has some great performances under his belt (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and L.A. Confidential) acts as though he’s never made or seen a comedy in his life. He mugs and grins at the screen like a small child who’s had a home video camera pointed at them and is ordered to do something funny. What makes his role in this turkey even more a blot on his CV is that he’s one of the producers. That’s right folks, he’s one of the money-men that let Greg make it in the first place. What’s up with you, Danny? Didn’t you read the script before you threw yourself into it? Good news, Greg, I blame DeVito instead – hurrah!
The film shows definite evidence of a salvage job: scenes appear truncated and there are jarring edits and occasional fade-to-blacks to Bostick the whole lot together. I must mention the incidental score which is one of those that signals loudly that you are watching a funny scene kind of like the theme tunes of early seventies British sitcoms usually composed by Geoff Love or Ronnie Hazlehurst.
Extras:
On Set with Relative Strangers (approx 12 mins): the cast and crew lark about on set, there is a chain of shots during which each cast and crew member say how wonderful everyone else is and how each was their number one choice for the role. Ha! Kathy Bates appears fleetingly to say how lovely everyone is with but even her acting prowess fails to convince – I’m also sure I saw the shadow of a gun pointing at her or it may have just been a trick of the light. Unfortunately at no point in this feature does anybody apologise for the film. This is very disappointing as a “sorry” goes a long way. There are many clips to remind you of the rubbish you have just watched and tellingly, when DeVito is first interviewed his character’s name appears as “Frank Manure” which implies the makers of the extra probably hadn’t bothered to watch the feature themselves. Lucky them, I say.
Relatives on Relatives (approx 5 mins): The cast and crew recount (unfunny) anecdotes about their own families. Pointless.
Both featurettes end sharply when the final credit appears without a fade-out of the music.
Trailer
Overall:
I hate to kick a film when it’s down as it’s already got its just desserts by being denied a release theatrically and, I guess, will be slipped into a quiet week of DVD releases some time in the future. I have noticed that sites which did have a release date of 21st August, 2006 have suddenly changed to between March and December of 2007. We can only hope that no more of the world’s resources are put to waste and somebody comes to their senses, puts the negative into a sack and chucks it into a canal.
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