As an actor, Sebastian Maniscalco is a great comedian. And that's pretty much how "About My Father" goes: As a movie, it never feels like anything more than material that would be better served in one of Maniscalco's killer stand-up routines.
Maniscalco plays Sebastian, a version of himself, who in this reality works in the hotel business. Robert De Niro is Salvo, his hairdresser father, who came over from Sicily to give his family a better life.
A loose series of sketches about his immigrant father's idiosyncrasies would be par for the course, but instead the plot twists itself into pretzels to become a sort of double romantic comedy, covering both Sebastian's relationship with his soon-to-be wife, Ellie (Leslie Bibb), and his relationship with his father.
Ellie's well-off, WASP-y family invites Sebastian and his father to their Virginia country club for the Fourth of July, where expected class conflicts ensue. Inside these plot constraints, an even more convoluted storyline evolves, where Sebastian needs his late mother's ring to propose to his girlfriend, but her family must first gain the approval of his father.
Maniscalco, who is pushing 50 (his character is 42), is too old to be caught up in a storyline that would barely be believable for someone half his age, and "About My Father" leans heavily on situations and tropes that were moldy when De Niro did them in "Meet the Parents" nearly a quarter-century ago.
There are some light laughs, mostly courtesy of De Niro, but he's not trying any harder than he needs to. Neither is "About My Father," which will be lucky to not be forgotten by Father's Day.
———
'ABOUT MY FATHER'
Grade: C-
MPA rating: PG-13 (for suggestive material, language and partial nudity)
Running time: 1:29
How to watch: In theaters Friday
———
