The Family Fang
(2016)Dysfunctional family comedy-drama directed by and starring Jason Bateman (TV's Arrested Development) and co-starring Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken.... More
"Annie (Kidman) and Baxter (Bateman) have spent most of their adult lives trying to get as far as possible from their parents, Caleb (Walken) and Camille Fang (Maryann Plunkett). The elder Fangs have attracted both kudos and controversy for their provocative, socially disruptive body of work, which, over the past forty-five years, has involved everything from faux bank robberies to staged incidents of child-busker harassment.
"When journalist Baxter sustains a head injury in a potato-cannon mishap, he winds up involuntarily in his parents' care. Annie comes to rescue him — and also to confront Mr. and Mrs. Fang once and for all about the madness of their vocation — but the siblings are thrown for a loop when Caleb and Camille suddenly go missing and foul play is suspected. Is their disappearance a genuine cause for alarm or just another situationist prank?" (Toronto International Film Festival)Hide
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Directed by Jason Bateman ('Bad Words')
Starring Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Marin Ireland, Michael Chernus, Josh Pais, Maryann Plunkett, Grainger Hines, Kathryn Hahn
Written by David Lindsay-Abaire (based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Wilson)
On Demand, DVD & Blu-Ray
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The Family Fang
BY Mike-Patterson superstar
Good cast but one of those cringe movies that at the end you wonder why you bothered watching til the end
BY cinemusefilm superstar
Internationally renowned Caleb Fang... More (Christopher Walken) and his wife Camille (Maryanne Plunkett) are performance artists dedicated to disrupting the conventions of normality. They stage impromptu happenings in public places simply to witness the sublime beauty of the resulting chaos. Their children Annie (Nicole Kidman) and Baxter (Jason Bateman) have been used as performance props since they were born and their adult lives bear the scars of parenting based on artifice and deception. As youngsters they busked a song “kill all parents so you can keep living” just to get crowd reactions, but they could not foresee the truth in the lyrics nor how their parents would control their lives into adulthood.
The story unfolds backwards with Annie and Baxter at their parent’s empty home searching for clues to explain the sudden and violent of disappearance of Caleb and Camille. Police believe the worst but the siblings believe it is just another stunt. While trawling through videos and other memorabilia, they see their lives paraded before them. They realise that they have always been exploited and are victims of unresolved psychological abuse. Through flashbacks, they can see Caleb as a violent personality and Camille as meekly compliant while family gatherings were tension-filled events under Caleb’s domination. When the siblings question the value of the performances the reaction is pure menace.
This is a dysfunctional family in both obvious and implied ways, and the film keeps us guessing whether the knotted ball can ever be untangled. The four characters are well defined with strong and believable performances, and the conflicts between young and old are frighteningly recognisable as the kind of things that happen in both normal and transgressive families. When Caleb says “parents damage kids, so what” it sends a shiver down your spine to realise that some people are not psychologically equipped to be parents. Annie and Baxter must confront the fact that letting their parents go may the only way to grow up. This is an original take on an age-old story that is also provocative and engaging.Hide
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The Press Reviews
79%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Acutely observed and graced with equal parts humour and honest feeling. Full Review
Merely "playing with concepts" doesn't quite add up to a film, and "The Family Fang," adapted from Kevin Wilson's novel, feels like an extended therapy session. Full Review
Mr. Bateman's direction of the actors is especially sensitive in this and other tricky scenes, showing a delicacy with emotional textures that isn't always matched by the story. Full Review
Jason Bateman has an affinity for directing. He and Kidman make a potent team in a provocative film that questions the limits of art in a world that forgets to be human. Full Review
Ultimately Bateman's latest adds little to a debate leant pithier insight by Larkin 44 years ago. Full Review
The Family Fang goes deep into dysfunction, but even more impressively, it smuggles in the daredevilish art theories of the late Chris Burden and his ilk. Full Review
Jason Bateman proves that 'Bad Words' was no fluke with this sharp and affecting dysfunctional-family portrait. Full Review
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