Review of Relative Strangers

Introduction

I suppose, as a hopeless optimist, I expect every movie I see to be great. Or at least, I expect it to try to be great. It seems unthinkable that so much money, effort and energy could be put into something that was happy to be just `OK`. But I get the definite feeling that `Relative Strangers` was never going to be much more than OK. This lukewarm feel-good comedy is fine. If you caught it on a movie channel you`d think it was OK. If you rented it, in an uninspired moment, you`d certainly think it was OK. Amusing, diverting, and …well, OK.

Which is surprising as it`s written and directed by Greg Glienna (Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers),though certainly won`t give you the belly-laughs that either of those might have generated.

Apparently, according to a trivia listing on the IMDB (International Movie Database), the screenplay was a mix of a skit written by Greg Glienna (called `The Manures`) and one of his best friends` life story. His friend, who was born as Sean M. Dorgan and later adopted and renamed Paul A. Tuminaro, found his birth mother in the mid 1990s. The "original" Richard Clayton (Paul) can be seen in several scenes as a close friend of Richard both at his party and also standing up at his wedding.

Richard Clayton (well-cast with Ron Livingston) is a successful psychiatrist and self-help guru style author who has just penned a book on anger-management entitled ` Count 1, Count 2, Let Go`.
He`s at a perfect point in his life - successful, wealthy, and about to marry gorgeous fiancé Ellen (Neve Campbell).

He`s a bleeding-heart liberal who, despite coming from a privileged upper-class professional family, believes in the dignity of the working-man, and is sympathetic to the struggle of ethnic minorities. When he discovers that he is actually adopted he sets about tracking down his parents. He`s pretty excited when he learns that they`re of (probably) French origin, and that his birth surname is `Manuré` (pronounced `Man-yoo-ray).

Imagine his shock when a couple of trailer trash backwater yokels turn up at his door, claiming that they`re his parents - the Manures. (Pronounced `Manure`). (Danny DeVito as Frank and Kathy Bates as Agnes).

Like a couple of Looney-tune rejects, ladling it on in case someone in the audience doesn`t get it, the movie suddenly descends to Marx Brothers style farce, removing any hope of sensible social comment.

Of course, it`s clear that, despite all the high-minded liberal talk, that Clayton is a snobbish hypocrite who can`t bear to be associated with his real parents.

As the comedy unfolds, culminating with him losing his temper with them on a national chat show (promoting his book on `Anger Management`), his world swiftly becomes unravelled.

Sensing that their return has ruined their boy`s life, his parents nobly claim that they made the whole thing up and weren`t his parents at all. But a found locket with a button eye inside that matches his childhood teddy-bear says otherwise, and Richard is faced with reassessing his values. Good all-American stuff.

Video

Recent film, nicely shot on location in California, with a nice transfer. It was OK.

Audio

Good professional soundtrack with OK score. Yes - I guess you could say that it was, well, OK.

Features

The disc includes two brief featurettes (On- set with Relatives Strangers; Relatives on Relatives), both featuring irreverent interviews with cast and crew, and both mercifully brief. It also includes the original trailer if you`re short of time and want to watch the movie in under two minutes.

Conclusion

I`d have to sum up `Relative Strangers` as a perfectly OK movie. Light and fun, with a little moralistic feel-good schmaltz thrown in for good measure, this is a film you`ll be perfectly happy to catch when it appears on TV. Just OK.

However, you`d be justified in expecting something more from the writer and director and of `Meet the Parents` and `Meet the Fokkers`.

Sensing the disappointment, the studio decided that it would be best to let this have its theatrical debut outside the US, which is what happened. It`s easy to understand why.

It`s another in a long-line of US comedies using social embarrassment as the source of its humour, though this is amongst the most lukewarm.

DeVito and Bates do a heart-warming, if over-the-top turn as the Manures (boy, writer/director Greg Glienna likes his funny names…), and there are a few smiles to be had, but this is a fairly unremarkable offering.