Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) has four children but he doesn't know them very well. When they were growing up, he spent most of his time working at a local wire factory. That left the rigors and rewards of parenting to his late wife. Now retired and feeling lonely, Frank decides to hold a barbeque weekend for his grown kids. But one by one, they call to say they cannot come. Ignoring the counsel of his doctor not to travel, Frank impulsively plans a transcontinental trip for surprise visits with his children. He begins with his son David, who is an artist living in New York City. But much to his dismay, he is not home.
The next stop is to see Amy (Kate Beckinsale), a very successful advertising executive who lives in a gigantic house with her husband and son. But she abruptly cuts his visit short, and Frank begins to wonder whether he has made a mistake in taking this extended road trip. Because he is afraid of flying, he is going by train and bus.
Next on the schedule is Robert (Sam Rockwell) in Denver, Colorado. Frank thinks he's the conductor of an orchestra but finds him in rehearsal playing percussion. This, it turns out, is his real job and he loves it. But he has never told his father because he didn't want to disappoint him. Robert criticizes Frank for never being there for his kids and putting too much pressure on them to succeed.
The last stop is in Las Vegas where he visits Rosie (Drew Barrymore), a dancer in a show. Frank figures out that her fancy apartment actually is owned by someone else. In addition to finding his children don't have time for him, enduring their criticism of his parenting style, and discovering all their fabrications, he eventually learns that all of them are lying about David's whereabouts. They claim to have done it in order to protect Frank from being hurt or worried.
Everybody's Fine, written and directed by Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine, Nanny McPhee) is a remake of a 1990 Italian film by Giuseppe Tornatore, the follow-up project to the Oscar winning classic Cinema Paradiso. Everyone will be able to identify with the universal themes in this dramatic comedy. It vividly captures the busyness of young adults who are often unavailable to their parents. There is a selfishness and a nasty form of payback in the way these three treat their father. He, in turn, learns from his attempts to draw emotionally closer to his grown children that there are painful repercussions of not communicating with them when they were young.
Another theme is the toxic fallout of exaggerated parental expectations for their children and pressure on them to succeed. The parents are inevitably disappointed, and the children feel bad about not being able to measure up to such high standards. To avoid this scenario, family members may keep secrets from each other or tell "white lies" to protect a parent from stress or worry — setting the stage for further breakdown of the family bond. These patterns are both dealt with in a realistic way in Everybody's Fine.. This richly developed movie is a primer on parenting and many of the challenges facing families today.
