Though admirably modest and understated...it has a lot to be modest about.
Familiar Strangers (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:4
Fresh:1
Rotten:3
Average Rating:N/A
Runtime: 86 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis:
Familiar Strangers is an off beat – funny – heartfelt story of a family negotiating the
changing relationships between parents and children, especially as those children grow
into adulthood....
Familiar Strangers is an off beat – funny – heartfelt story of a family negotiating the
changing relationships between parents and children, especially as those children grow
into adulthood.
Familiar Strangers follows the Worthington’s through a four day Thanksgiving gathering.
Brian (Shawn Hatosy), who moved away and kept his distance for the past several years, is
reluctantly returning carrying the baggage of unresolved conflict with his father Frank (Tom
Bower).
Frank feels he has lost the ability to connect with his maturing children, and has replaced
them with his pets, new children “who never have to grow up”.
The matriarch Dottie (Ann Dowd) holds the reins on the family beneath the surface, brother
Kenny (DJ Qualls) is a twenty-something who has not yet found his path, sister Erin
(Cameron Richardson) is struggling to find herself after a painful divorce, and Erin’s young
daughter Maddy (newcomer Georgia Mae Lively), observes with a wisdom truly beyond her
years.
Family friend Allison (Nikki Reed), long an admirer of Brian, is happy to find him back for a
visit. She may just appreciate his family more than he does, and may help to make this return
home bearable.
Through conflict, ritual and communication, the Worthington family strives to find the
friendship and love we all hope can exist between parents and their adult children. --© Official Site
Starring: Shawn Hatosy, DJ Qualls, Ann Dowd, Cameron Richardson
Starring: Shawn Hatosy, DJ Qualls, Ann Dowd, Cameron Richardson, Georgia Mae Lively, Nikki Reed, Tom Bower, Angus Sutherland
Director: Zackary Adler
Director: Zackary Adler
Screenwriter: John Bell
Producer: Tim Estep, Bruce Heller, Scott Legrand, Marc Lieberman, Barry Sisson
Composer: Dawn Landes, Steve Salett
Studio: Cavalier Pictures
Reviews for Familiar Strangers
Good intentions and huggable canines go only so far in the face of a predictable script and casting so random that everyone involved seems barely part of the same species, let alone the same family.
One assumes writer John Bell isn’t plagued with a family full of neurotics like, say, Noah Baumbach, so while his movie manages to rise above cliche, it doesn’t have very far to go beyond that.
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