As good an actor as De Niro is, he is no stand-up comic. He can't even fake it.
But the blame doesn't go mainly to casting. The story and script is a torture to endure. This movie is so packed with clichés, I was calling out events and lines just before they happened. There is no denying that a great cast was assembled, so the painful performances from Harvey Keitel, Danny DeVito, Patty Lupone, Charles Grodin and Cloris Leachman can only be credited to godawful material and flat directing. The editing was painful too, with every single scene transition initiated by establishing shots. Tiresome.
The only bright spot is Leslie Mann, whose charisma somehow breaks through the dreck. I would like to see her in more good movies, and I don't mean more Judd Apatow movies.
But the blame doesn't go mainly to casting. The story and script is a torture to endure. This movie is so packed with clichés, I was calling out events and lines just before they happened. There is no denying that a great cast was assembled, so the painful performances from Harvey Keitel, Danny DeVito, Patty Lupone, Charles Grodin and Cloris Leachman can only be credited to godawful material and flat directing. The editing was painful too, with every single scene transition initiated by establishing shots. Tiresome.
The only bright spot is Leslie Mann, whose charisma somehow breaks through the dreck. I would like to see her in more good movies, and I don't mean more Judd Apatow movies.