It’s always nice to see Robert DeNiro when he’s not starring alongside Katherine Heigl or getting stabbed in the penis (for laughs!), and by that measure, Being Flynn is already a success. Based on a memoir by Nick Flynn (which I didn’t read, but saw Flynn read an excerpt of once and it was excellent), it stars Paul Dano as Flynn, a 20-something dude who crosses paths with his estranged father while working at a homeless shelter. It’s a shame they couldn’t use the original title of the memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, because that’s about as good a title as you’re going to get without bringing in jetpacks or velociraptors.
The slow-motion montages and soaring acoustic guitar lead me to believe that this will be life-affirming.
Caveat 1: Paul Weitz, who directed this, also directed Little Fockers. I’m hoping there were mitigating factors involved, like the studio kidnapping his family to force him into it.
Caveat 2: He also directed About a Boy, a sub-par adaptation of a pretty good book.
In any case, I think we can all agree that Olivia Thirlby is mega super duper pretty. Even with that haircut.
[HD available at Apple]