About My Father: America's 'Hottest Comedian' Makes a Lukewarm Debut (despite DeNiro)
By Thom Ernst
Rating: C-plus
I hear that Sebastian Maniscalco is the hottest comedian in America. At least, that’s the claim pushed by the folks behind the new movie, About My Father, co-written by and starring Maniscalo.
I’m not familiar with Maniscalco’s work beyond the five or so minutes I watched on his Netflix special. Is he the hottest comedian in America right now? I don’t see it, but he must be close. They don’t hand out feature films to just anyone with a Netflix special. Or do they?
Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert DeNiro in About My Father
I imagine the appeal of Maniscalco is the simple, sometimes endearing observations he makes about growing up as the son of an Italian immigrant. It’s humour distinct in all routines focused on cultural divisions—often with a parent as the fall guy—whether Italian, Jewish, Indian, or other. It’s safe humour that only slightly toys with stereotypes.
About My Father pairs Maniscalco with Robert De Niro. It’s a good match, or at least De Niro makes the match look good by actively embodying his character Salvo, an Italian immigrant with a successful hair salon, with an easy charm and old-country virtues.
Sebastian plays Sebastian who is dating Ellie (Leslie Bibb) a successful artist, and the daughter of a Senator (Kim Cattrall) and one of the largest names in the hotel industry (David Rasche). Sebastian works as a manager for a competing hotel but the comedic possibilities this situation raises go AWOL with only a minor payoff.
Director Laura Terruso overlooks several comedic opportunities in About My Father. It’s as though she’s working from a script that’s been edited by someone who got the situations but not the jokes.
The set-up has Sebastian invited to spend Memorial Day with Ellie’s exceedingly wealthy parents. The invitation signals an acceptance of their daughter’s son-of-an-immigrant boyfriend and offers the perfect scenario for Sebastian to propose to Ellie. But the ring left to him by his recently deceased mother is withheld by Salvo for fear his son will be frivolous with whom he gives it to. Slavo needs to look into the eyes of Ellie’s parents to know if they are worthy. Circumstances align so that Salvo joins his son with Ellie’s family.
Sebastian fears that Salvo’s Old World ways and working-man attitude will not mix with Ellie’s upper-class family. It’s a joke that’s been around longer than cinema; long before Ma and Pa Kettle went to Washington or The Marx Brothers attended the opera. It’s a joke that still works today, but only occasionally succeeds in About My Father.
Most of the comedy in About My Father is episodic, one scene following another without much of a thread or arc to hold a story together. The inclusion of Ellie’s brothers, an obnoxious frat boy named Lucky (Anders Holm) and a spacey New Ager named Doug (Brett Dier), strains to keep the funny flowing.
The single consistent comedic lift comes from Rasche who nails his performance as Ellie’s eager-to-please dad. His stumbling good-guy persona is affectious, strangely familiar, and exactly what the film needs.
About My Father can feel like a tempered Meet the Parents (also starring De Niro) without the acidic tone that pushes Meet the Parents towards the satirical. About My Father is satisfied delivering television-friendly scenarios and punch lines and, except for a single harmless semi-nude scene, could well be bait for a situation televised series.
Part of the problem with About My Father is that the script lacks conflict. Despite Sebastian’s unwarranted concerns about his father’s behaviour, Ellie’s family is surprisingly accommodating, and Salvo is only mildly out of step with his potential inlaws. This too could be excellent fodder for comedy were the irony allowed to be fleshed out fully.
The other issue belongs to Maniscalco. Maniscalco plays heavily to the room rather than off the characters. Everyone in the film is better than Maniscalco.
Maniscalco seems unable to ignore the camera in the room, making his performance too precise to be anything but stilted. It’s a performance that likely serves Maniscalco well onstage, but on film tends to break down the illusion cinema works so hard to uphold; the illusion that the world we’re watching exists.
Maniscalco’s persona lingers between baffled ignorance and anxious trepidation all the while making clever observations about being Italian. He seems charming enough that the possibility of him carving out a career as a comic movie actor is feasible. But About My Father is a weak beginning. Especially for the hottest comedian currently in America.
About My Father is directed by Laura Terruso and stars Sebastian Maniscalco, Robert De Niro, Leslie Bibb, Kim Cattrall and David Rasche. About My Father is currently in cinemas.