Too many smart literary adaptations get bogged down in whimsy. Her detachment detracts from the emotional core of the relationship with the Bateman character.įor a story bursting with ideas about radical art, the film ultimately turns rather conventional. The one false note is from Kidman, whose Annie is terrific on her own - especially in some early scenes on the set of a film and then in conversation with a journalist.īut she seems woefully out of place with the rest of the Fangs, and not just because Kidman struggles to conceal her Aussie accent. Bateman, too, is in top form in an emotionally resonant performance. Walken is a standout as the art-obsessed patriarch, mercilessly indifferent to his family but empathetic for his lofty artistic ambitions.
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The film brims with big ideas about art, expression, authenticity and family - which Pulitzer-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire weaves seamlessly into a briskly paced story, where flashbacks feel like perfectly timed reveals.īateman, back in the director’s seat after his 2013 feature debut “Bad Words,” may not have a fully developed cinematic sense yet, but he sure knows how to capture performances, even if he’s just letting his actors do their own thing. The two damaged siblings mine both past traumas and present complications to try to arrive at the truth. While Baxter resigns himself to the idea that his parents are actually dead, Annie becomes obsessed with the idea that they’re alive. A distressing meeting with the police makes the siblings wonder whether the disappearance is for real or just another act. Caleb freaks out, and soon afterward, he and Camille have gone missing. The accidental reunion is alternately fraught and comforting, but things turn volatile when Annie and Baxter refuse to participate in yet another stunt with Caleb and Camille. Formerly an indie darling, she is now known for a string of third-rate rom-coms, and is trying to stage a comeback. Now grown up, Annie (Nicole Kidman) is an actress with a reputation for wild behavior, who has become less interesting with sobriety. There’s a shooting, followed by tears - and then laughter, as the performers come clean about the ruse and relish the chaos they’ve created.Īs viewers may expect by now, the family’s future is not all rosy, especially for the kids. Bystanders watch in horror as the bizarre scene unfolds. Then suddenly, we’re in a bank, where young Baxter is waving a gun and staging a holdup to gain access to the teller’s lollipop jar. Caleb is dressed as a police officer, and Baxter, roughly age 5, is asking if he can taste the fake blood again. In the family car, parents Caleb and Camille are preparing their kids - Annie and Baxter - for something. This elegantly structured adaptation of Kevin Wilson’s best-selling 2011 novel opens with a flashback.
“The Family Fang” tells the story of a pair of performance artists for whom everything in life became part of their act and of the affect of that attitude on their two (now-adult) children.
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