Jesse Wigutow’s mostly flaccid script provides a few memorable showdown scenes between father Kirk and son Michael.
It Runs in the Family (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:96
Fresh:27
Rotten:69
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Despite its gimmick casting, the movie ultimately goes nowhere.
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Some families can survive everything. Even each other. The Grombergs are a highly successful family – except when it comes to communicating with each other. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is... Some families can survive everything. Even each other. The Grombergs are a highly successful family – except when it comes to communicating with each other. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is a man caught in the middle. Navigating the tricky, ever-changing roles of father, son, and husband, he’s trying to avoid the mistakes his father made while coming to terms with the ones he’s already passed on to his own sons. Alex’s wife, Rebecca (Bernadette Peters), is a psychologist trying to balance a professional life with her marriage and raising her kids. Mitchell Gromberg (Kirk Douglas), the patriarch and a retired partner of one of New York’s leading law firms, is having difficulty coming to grips with his mortality. Evelyn (Diana Douglas) is his devoted wife and has been his emotional rock throughout their marriage – and the peacemaker between him and Alex. Asher Gromberg (Cameron Douglas), Alex’s eldest son, is a rebellious college student trying to cope with life, love, and sex in a confused society. And Eli (Rory Culkin), Alex’s 11-year old, is perhaps the "oldest" and most levelheaded of all the Gromberg men. Three generations of an American family, they all live separate lives, each in their own dysfunctional way. But every once in awhile, there comes a time to come together – to celebrate, to laugh, to fight, to cry, and to care for each other. Onscreen together for the first time in their careers, Academy Award-winners Michael Douglas and Kirk Douglas join real-life relations Cameron Douglas and Diana Douglas, along with Bernadette Peters and Rory Culkin, to tell a story about the loving, frustrating, and ultimately inescapable bonds of family. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Buena Vista International present Michael Douglas and Kirk Douglas in It Runs in the Family, a Furthur Films production of a Fred Schepisi film. Directed by Schepisi and written by Jesse Wigutow, the film also stars Rory Culkin, Cameron Douglas, Diana Douglas, Michelle Monaghan, and Bernadette Peters. Produced by Michael Douglas, It Runs in the Family was executive produced by Schepisi and Kerry Orent, with Marcy Drogin as co-producer and Joel Douglas as associate producer. The production team includes director of photography Ian Baker, production designer Patrizia Von Brandenstein, editor Kate Williams, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, composer Paul Grabowsky, and music supervisor Susan Jacobs. [More]
Starring: Michael Douglas, Rory Culkin, Diana Douglas, Bernadette Peters
Starring: Michael Douglas, Rory Culkin, Diana Douglas, Bernadette Peters, Kirk Douglas, Cameron Douglas, Michelle Monaghan
Director: Fred Schepisi
Director: Fred Schepisi
Screenwriter: Jesse Wigutow
Producer: Michael Keaton, Michael Douglas
Composer: Paul Grabowsky
Studio: MGM/UA
Reviews for It Runs in the Family
This one's for your parents, your grandparents, and the entire state of Florida.
Much to my surprise and delight, the movie is nothing like its marketing.
You'll suddenly remember why you always tried to avoid going next door to watch the neighbor's Kodak 8 mm home movies on the Bell and Howell projector.
Movie fans will probably be delighted to see four Douglas' in the same movie, but it really is disappointing that - after waiting so long to co-star with each other - this is the best they could come up with.
Though surrounded by Douglases our former Spartacus may be, this strained bit of sappiness should be no screen legend's swan song.
Has echoes of The Wonder Years to On Golden Pond, though with fewer laughs and less poignancy.
I can understand why they wanted to do this movie, and I wish they'd been able to pull it off.
The movie deals with these touchy subjects, and others, but in a plot so jammed with events, disputes, tragedies and revelations that the most serious matters don't seem to receive enough attention.
A family drama that manages to be affectingly bittersweet without being as satisfying.
A family comedy that's also something of a drama (or maybe it's the other way around), the picture never quite finds its footing.
The three main characters are so self-absorbed that it's not surprising the story of their lives comes off about as interesting as a soup-soaked Saltine.
The situations are absurd and melodramatic, the dialog is not believable, and the acting is over-the-top (apparently talent doesn't run in the family - at least not to the third generation).
When the same surname keeps appearing during the opening credits, it's usually a bad sign.
While this dysfunctional family drama has an interesting casting gimmick, it's sadly sentimental and ultimately frustrating. "Growing up isn't easy at any age" but this never approaches "On Golden Pond."
Breathes with much knowing truth and dainty detail about the intimate lives of families.
This isn't a real family. This isn't how a real family talks to each other, treats each other, comforts or berates each other.
Latest News for It Runs in the Family
April 20, 2006:
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