Salt Lake Tribune Review

A great cast gets stranded with a not-so-great script in this sugary remake of a 1990 Italian comedy-drama that gave Marcello Mastroianni one of his last great roles. Robert De Niro plays Frank, a working-class retiree with a lung problem (from years of making PVC coating for phone lines). Eight months after his wife's death, his grown children each cancel on a planned trip home, so Frank hops on the train to surprise them with a visit. Along the way, he realizes his kids — ad executive Amy (Kate Beckinsale), musician Robert (Sam Rockwell), dancer Rosie (Drew Barrymore) and AWOL artist David — aren't living the perfect lives he thought they were. Writer-director Kirk Jones ("Waking Ned Devine") lays out Frank's journey in a drab, linear fashion, but it's the way the kids withhold key information from their dad and from the audience that feels like a dramatic cheat. Still, watching De Niro as a regular guy brings its own dynamic kick.

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