Has any recent film threatened to drown more big-name talent in scented soap suds than Gabriele Muccino’s weepy melodrama “Fathers and Daughters”? Mr. Muccino, an Italian director best known for the Will Smith vehicles “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Seven Pounds,” doesn’t shy away from the kind of wholesale sentimentality that feels like a hangover from the 1980s.
The spectacle of actors of the quality of Russell Crowe, Aaron Paul, Janet McTeer, Octavia Spencer and Jane Fonda earnestly struggling to wring eye moisture from hammy, flat-footed dialogue (credited to Brad Desch, an unknown), while maintaining some dignity, is depressing proof that an actor is only as good as his or her material.
Mr. Crowe stars as Jake Davis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose life comes apart in the opening scene when the car he’s driving crashes during a domestic dispute, killing his wife but sparing his young daughter, Katie (Kylie Rogers). The accident recalls a similar scene in “Demolition,” a recent dud with a high-powered star (Jake Gyllenhaal), which was released with high expectations and immediately fizzled.
Jake survives, but a serious head injury leaves him prone to racking seizures, during which he suddenly collapses and thrashes about like a speared fish. He spends seven months in a mental hospital while Katie stays with his wife’s icy sister, Elisabeth (Diane Kruger), and her wealthy husband, William (Bruce Greenwood). In an embarrassing hit-you-over-the-head moment, William taunts Jake by announcing that he is “richer than God.”
No sooner has Jake emerged from the hospital in a shaky state than the couple declare their desire to adopt Jake’s adorable “potato chip,” as Jake repeatedly refers to Katie with annoying regularity. Jake refuses their offer, whereupon Elisabeth turns nasty and declares, “You killed my sister,” which is typical of the film’s blunt-force dialogue.
As the movie jounces along on florid pronouncements that overstate the obvious, “Fathers and Daughters” defies credibility and insults the intelligence. Jake’s comeback book, “Bitter Tulips,” written during his hospital stay, receives scathing reviews; his career tanks; and he runs out of money. Decades later, his reputation is restored with a critical and commercial blockbuster titled (you guessed it!) “Fathers and Daughters.”
Katie grows up to be a social worker who counsels troubled young orphans, including Lucy (Quvenzhané Wallis), who is so traumatized she refuses to speak. The grown-up Katie (Amanda Seyfried) is a good-bad character. On the plus side is her eagerness to do good. But she is also a promiscuous commitment-phobe who complains that she is unable to feel, a condition for which the movie harshly judges her.
Finally Prince Charming appears in the person of Cameron (Mr. Paul), a puppyish author who idolizes Jake and oozes an unctuous sincerity. The storytelling is infuriatingly coy, holding back crucial plot points.
The degree to which “Fathers and Daughters” is stale is signaled by the use of Michael Bolton singing the Carpenters’ 1970s hit “(They Long to Be) Close to You” as a thematic touchstone, and a female character’s bitter, tearful pronouncement at the end of the film: “Men — they can survive without love, but not us women.” Oh, really?
“Fathers and Daughters” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for sexual content. Running time: 1 hour 56 minutes.
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