Better Living (NR) No Rating
A long-lost father's homecoming quickly unglues his family -- and this ill-conceived comedy-drama.
Story
Nora (Olympia Dukakis) is bonkers enough to jackhammer tunnels beneath her suburban home while her three adults daughters (Deborah Hedwall, Catherine Corpeny and Wendy Hoopes) are only marginally more stable. Then patriarch Tom (Roy Scheider) shows up after a 15-year absence with wild ideas about fortifying the homestead against attacks from the world's unfortunate. Who will triumph in the resulting battle for family domination?
Acting
Dukakis ("Moonstruck") is always a joy to see digging into a role as idiosyncratic as this one, but even she starts to look a little foolish as the storyline grows increasingly ridiculous in the second half. The other members of the ensemble suffer more grievously from the uneven script, though Hedwell (NBCs "Law and Order") gets in some good licks as a hard-bitten public defender prone to shouting her opinions. Veteran character actor Edward Herrmann ("Richie Rich") gives delightful deadpan as Nora's morose priest brother.
Direction
Adapted from George F. Walker's stage play, Max Mayer's well-meaning debut feature generates some amusingly unpredictable moments early on. But things go horribly wrong when Tom arrives with his scheme to remake the family as a disciplined home-defense unit. The idea of the characters building a barricade around their house isn't believable for a second - worse, it isn't funny. Inhabiting an uncomfortable area between drama and black comedy, the piece disintegrates into a series of embarrassingly ineffective episodes.
Bottom line
In this case, "Better Living" isn't worth the cost in time and energy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starring Olympia Dukakis, Roy Scheider, Edward Herrmann, Deborah Hedwall and Catherine Corpeny.
Directed by Max Mayer. Produced by Ron Kastner, Lemore Syvan and Max Mayer. Screenplay by Max Mayer and George F. Walker. Released by Goldheart Pictures.
To get the full Quicklook Films experience, uncheck "Enable on this Site" from Adblock Plus
box office top 10
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Released: May 10, 2024 Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan 56.5M
The Fall Guy Released: May 3, 2024 Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt 13.7M
Challengers Released: April 26, 2024 Cast: Zendaya, Josh O'Connor 4.7M
Tarot Released: May 3, 2024 Cast: Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley 3.5M
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Released: March 29, 2024 Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry 2.5M
Unsung Hero Released: April 26, 2024 Cast: Daisy Betts, Joel Smallbone 2.3M
Kung Fu Panda 4 Released: March 8, 2024 Cast: Jack Black, Awkwafina 2M
Civil War Released: April 12, 2024 Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura 1.8M
Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Released: May 3, 2024 Cast: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson 1.5M
Abigail Released: April 19, 2024 Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens 1.1M