About My Father

  

    This new comedy co-written and starring Sebastian Maniscalco is a 90 minute therapy session that ends with Mr. Maniscalco's better understanding of his father. His stand-up routines about his father are very funny but unfortunately they don't translate well in this loosely based but fictionalized version of his life.

   Mr. Maniscalco plays a version of himself and for the most part is the straight man in the film or the recipient of a joke. Robert De Niro plays his father and he gets the best lines and comic reactions. If you've seen the trailer, then you have already seen the best bits and what's left is a sappy, sentimental, not very funny, comedy about family.

   The film also co-stars Leslie Bibb, Anders Holm, David Rasche, and Kim Cattrall. Their characters are all stereotypes and almost everything in the film rings of a false note.

   A major disappointment, Mr. Maniscalco should stick to stand-up or acting in someone else's films. I also can't understand why the studio didn't release the film on Father's Day weekend which may have helped the marketing.