Director: Jason Bateman
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 1.5
An actress (Nicole Kidman) and her brother, a writer (Bateman) finally reunite with their performance artist parents (Maryann Plunkett and Christopher Walken) after years of being apart ... and find Mom and Dad are still doing their old artsy routines (only not 'as good' as before). Joins the ever-growing trend of movies that involve middle-aged adults going 'back home' - including Sisters, This Is Where I Leave You (also with Bateman), The Skeleton Twins - to 'fix their lives' (Kidman drinks and is impulsive, Bateman has Writer's Block) ... in this case they're supposed to come to some 'epiphany' when Mom and Dad fake their own deaths (!?) leading them to investigate where they're hiding ... and leading double lives, and incredibly out of touch with reality. It suggests that people who pursue a life in the arts are ill-equipped to be parental figures, which is over-reaching (there are plenty of people not in the arts who shouldn't be parents); coming to the realization Mom and Dad are actual loons is apparently better than going to an actual therapist. Sure, whatever you say....
