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3 DAYS WITH DAD
Director: Larry Clarke Cast: Larry Clarke, Tom Arnold, Mo Gaffney, Julie Ann Emery, Lesley Ann Warren, Brian Dennehy, Eric Edelstein, Mike O'Malley, Amy Landecker, J.K. Simmons, Sam Trammell, Chris Bauer, Tom Yi, Joseph R. Sicari, David Koechner MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:34 Release Date: 9/13/19 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 12, 2019 Writer/director Larry Clarke gets some things quite right in 3 Days with Dad, his debut as a filmmaker. The movie follows a man named Eddie, played by Clarke, as he navigates the difficulties of dealing with a sick, then dying, and then ultimately dead loved one. If that sounds like a blunt way of putting it, that's only because it's a reflection of the material at hand. The dying man is Eddie's father Bob (Brian Dennehy), an unapologetically stern and emotionally constipated man who uses his final moments of consciousness to scold his adult children. It's little wonder, then, that Eddie's eulogy at the movie's start is improvised (Why should he put in the effort?), while his brother Andy's (Tom Arnold) follow-up becomes a very public attempt to convince himself that his father did love him. This means, of course, that the story begins with the knowledge that Bob has died. Through an unwieldy structure of constant flashbacks, Clarke's screenplay jumps between the funeral, Bob's final days of relative health, the hospital, and the preparation for the funeral without much rhyme or reason—except that the climactic scenes have to involve Bob's death. It's mostly played as a comedy, with over-the-top arguments among family members (Eric Edelstein as third brother Zak, Mo Gaffney as sister Diane, and Lesley Ann Warren as stepmother Dawn) and confrontations with incompetent hospital staff and the discovery that dad is going to be cremated at a facility that usually deals with pets. As comedy, the material is dark and awkward—not only because of the nature of the jokes but also because of how stilted the setups are. There is, though, some blunt honesty to be found between the lines, primarily in how Eddie finds every reason to distract himself from the imminent death of a man for whom he has, to put it kindly, conflicted feelings. In the midst of following that idea, though, Clarke's story becomes bogged down in Eddie's reunion with Susan (Julie Ann Emery), with whom he had a fling years ago and for whom he still holds a romantic torch. What begins as a clumsy but raw examination of what it means to deal with death gradually transforms into an entirely clumsy romantic comedy of sorts. To say that 3 Days with Dad loses its way is an understatement. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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