Before yesterday I was totally oblivious to the existence to this movie. I've stumbled upon in on VOD where I saw Steve Carell, whom I like, and read the premise, which was intriguing. For context, I've expected a movie about a single father trying to be a dat to 3 daughters while meeting a new love interest. Sprinkle some comedy on there, some drama and should be a good time right?
To be honest, the movie kind of IS adhering to that synopsis and it is not the movie's fault that it wasn't described at the VOD correctly. The synopsis here at IMDB is somewhat better. The movie is about a widower that meets and falls for a woman who turns out to be the new girlfriend of his brother. Add to that that the majority of the movie is set during some kind of family meeting.
The good parts, are indeed the parts that made me choose to watch the movie in the first place. Steve Carell is in his usual form, the storyline about him, his love interest and him trying to be a father are all good and satisfactory.
What I didn't like is the setting. I mean I didn't like it at all. A huge house at the beach, big enough for approx. 20 people where his parents live and set during a prolongued gathering. I must have missed the ocasion. The movie is set during fall so might be thanksgiving, or might just be a random annual family meetup? Anyway, I found it cringy. A huge house with a happy family, spending what feels like a week tohether when there are no holidays, so the kids must have been excused from school and the adults took out vacation for this. Every night is a feast, they all spend time together preparing skits, singing, exercising, playing american football. It might tell you something about my own personal problems, but I just cringed hard at this aspect. The setting is a fantasy of what a happy family is supposed to be, but they try to tell the story on top of a story about a widower with 3 kids who falls in love with the GF of his brother. It did not work for me. If they had pulled back on the family meetup, it might have worked better for me, but as is. I found it non-offensive but not very good either.
To be honest, the movie kind of IS adhering to that synopsis and it is not the movie's fault that it wasn't described at the VOD correctly. The synopsis here at IMDB is somewhat better. The movie is about a widower that meets and falls for a woman who turns out to be the new girlfriend of his brother. Add to that that the majority of the movie is set during some kind of family meeting.
The good parts, are indeed the parts that made me choose to watch the movie in the first place. Steve Carell is in his usual form, the storyline about him, his love interest and him trying to be a father are all good and satisfactory.
What I didn't like is the setting. I mean I didn't like it at all. A huge house at the beach, big enough for approx. 20 people where his parents live and set during a prolongued gathering. I must have missed the ocasion. The movie is set during fall so might be thanksgiving, or might just be a random annual family meetup? Anyway, I found it cringy. A huge house with a happy family, spending what feels like a week tohether when there are no holidays, so the kids must have been excused from school and the adults took out vacation for this. Every night is a feast, they all spend time together preparing skits, singing, exercising, playing american football. It might tell you something about my own personal problems, but I just cringed hard at this aspect. The setting is a fantasy of what a happy family is supposed to be, but they try to tell the story on top of a story about a widower with 3 kids who falls in love with the GF of his brother. It did not work for me. If they had pulled back on the family meetup, it might have worked better for me, but as is. I found it non-offensive but not very good either.