Dan's family: shallow, insipid and fake

really

yes, but you gotta remember that not everyone's family dynamic is your family dynamic. I see this as a pretty awesome example of a real, imperfect family. Uh yeah, people do crossword puzzles together. that looks to me like a family tradition that they've extended to their 'reunion'. none of it rings shallow of fake.

Notice that there is no TV as far as i can remember. these people are spending their time being together, just talking and interacting. it's obvious they all live far from one another and rarely see each other.

hence, the novelty of seeing each other is mostly likely sufficient to quell any infighting, at least for the weekend... ya know?

wow, I didn't realize that this was supposed to be a deep analysis of family life/interaction. I'm pretty sure it is labeled as a romantic dramedy, which is exactly what it was. I'm sorry that you weren't able to enjoy it for what it was, because I found it to be quite a delightful film.

Look, gotta tell ya, I know plenty like this from my time up, Rhode Island there. All summer long - fall/winter/spring the cold keeps you in - you see 'em nights, their living rooms, aglow with good cheer, everybody jumpin' up, down, up, down, like a bushel basket Jumping Beans with a bad case of the Hot Foot.

The whole smilin' family yelling, joshing, guffawing, chortling, acting out these skits, reciting Proust, issuing solemn declamations excerpted from The Last Days of Pompeii, that sorta thing, the kids all dressed, you know, smarmy like, no way you gonna catch them on a bike or - Egad! - out onna boat, bouncin' & floppin' over the waves like some big, fat, Davey Jones whose locker got repo'd, right?

I mean, these people are so perfect, you'll never catch them pickin' their nose, because their noses are just there for cosmetic effect, nothing much behind those snouts. How's that for cryptic albeit imbecillic imagery?


Beyond that, look, I'm from Rhode Island, OK, where as The Mad Peck wisely said in 1978:

...It rains two days out of three except during rainy season, when it snows like a b....

Where Friendship is a One Way Street, Rich Folks live on Power Street,

and the rest of us live off Hope....

(c. 1978, The Mad Peck)

Starting to get the picture? Good, then let's paint in a little more color: Grey. Lotta Grey. You notice the sky, there, this film? Those raindrops all over the cars, windows, overcoats, wet hair, wet hats? Getting the 'flavor' of our Rhode Island summers yet?

Right, now you know why many of us Ri-Dylandahs' years ago moved 'down Flah-dah', as we say.

Now, you take that weather, and you stuff alla them Miltown Tranquilizer-Happy faces that family in some house - notice the studs on the walls of Dan's family's house, by the by? Look, Ma, no sheetrock! That means no heat, no A/C, no insulation, you feelin' the clamminess yet? - and you get alla them bouncin' around, stealin' one another's women, playin' crosswords, dancin' around some Geritol-Deficient Ted Mack Amateur Hour? Whatta you got? You got the makings of a real good ol' fashioned Lizzy Borden New England axe murder, or maybe the whole bunch will just go leap off the cliffs down the road at Beavertail Point, like a bunch of happy lemmings in search of dry heat.

Know what I mean?

Paul Vincent Zecchino
Family Matters Expert
Manasota Key, Florida
08 September, 2010

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