''The Thing About My Folks'' is a 2005 American comedy drama film directed by

Raymond De Felitta Raymond De Felitta (born 30 June 1964) is an American independent film director, screenwriter and musician. Early life De Felitta was born in New York City. His father Frank De Felitta was Italian American and his mother Dorothy Gilbert De Fel ...

and starring Peter Falk,

Paul Reiser Paul Reiser (; born March 30, 1956) is an American actor, comedian, and television writer. He is known for his roles as Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom ''My Two Dads'', Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom ''Mad About You'', Modell in the 1982 fi ...

, and Olympia Dukakis. The screenplay by

focuses on the effect a terminal illness has on the marriage of an aging couple and their adult children.

Plot

When Muriel Kleinman unexpectedly leaves her husband Sam, their three daughters Linda, Hillary, Bonnie, and daughter-in-law Rachel set about trying to find her while Sam and his son Ben spend a day in the country inspecting property Ben and his wife are considering buying. The journey evolves into an extended road trip in a restored 1940 Ford Deluxe coupe convertible Sam buys when Ben's car crashes. As time passes, the two men fish, drink, and play pool while discussing the past and reestablishing their relationship. Ben learns Muriel went on vacation, but after enjoying a leisurely day by herself, began to experience blackouts. The doctors give her six months to live, and Muriel and Sam begin to mend a marriage Sam never realized was deteriorating. She lives through the summer, and Ben realizes he has never seen his parents happier in his life. When Muriel dies, Sam moves in with Ben and his family, and they enjoy life together until Sam himself passes away. Ben and Rachel have another child and name him Martin Samuel Kleinman to honor his parents, whose gravestone bears the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

inscription "מה שלי שלך ומה שלך שלי" ("What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine"), testifying to the truly giving and compassionate relationship Ben's parents had with each other.

Cast

* Peter Falk as Sam Kleinman *

as Ben Kleinman * Olympia Dukakis as Muriel Kleinman *

Elizabeth Perkins Elizabeth Ann Perkins (born November 18, 1960) is an American actress. Her film roles have included ''About Last Night'' (1986), '' Big'' (1988), ''Avalon'' (1990), and '' He Said, She Said'' (1991), ''The Flintstones'' (1994), ''Miracle on 34th ...

as Rachel Kleinman *

Ann Dowd Ann Dowd (born January 30, 1956) is an American actress. She has played supporting roles in numerous films, including ''Green Card'' (1990), ''Lorenzo's Oil'' (1992), ''Philadelphia'' (1993), '' Garden State'' (2004), '' The Manchurian Candidate' ...

as Linda * Kevin Cahoon as Perky Waiter *Claire Beckman as Hillary *Mimi Lieber as Bonnie * Jerry Seinfeld as himself

Production

The film was shot on location in Minnesota. The film premiered at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

in June 2005 and went into limited release in the US on September 16, 2005. It grossed $235,341 on 93 screens on its opening weekend and eventually earned $816,403 in the US and $6,934 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $823,337.

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' observed, "One of the nice things about my job is that I get to enjoy the good parts in movies that aren't really necessary to see. ''The Thing About My Folks'' travels familiar movie territory...but we discover once again what a warm and engaging actor Peter Falk is. I can't recommend the movie, but I can be grateful that I saw it, for Falk." Ned Martel of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said, "As the crotchety paterfamilias, Peter Falk is convincingly grating, and for a few moments heroic, as he makes his character, Sam Kleinman, into someone the son need not complain about so much. Despite the grumpy, flatulent behavior the script demands of him, Mr. Falk rises above the treacly shenanigans." Steve Persall of the '' St. Petersburg Times'' graded the film B− and commented, "Nothing surprises in ''The Thing About My Folks'' except how effective such timeworn material can be when the right people deliver it. The movie contains little that we haven't seen before, but charm can make anything seem a bit fresher. Most credit goes to Peter Falk . . . hodoesn't merely carry

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

he bravely totes it over a mountain of clichés like one of Hannibal's elephants . . . somehow this derivative, predictable story works, probably because of Falk's unforced determination to make that happen." Robert Koehler of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "good-natured but only memorable as a platform for the amusingly feisty Peter Falk" and added, "Pic belongs more to Reiser than to director Raymond De Felitta, who allows the extremely talky script to go on uncut and covers the chatter with an excess of TV-style tracking close-ups."

Awards and nominations

Peter Falk tied with

Josh Hartnett Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor and producer. He first came to attention in 1997 for his role as Michael Fitzgerald in the television crime drama series '' Cracker''. He made his feature film debut in 1998 in th ...

('' Lucky Number Slevin'') for Best Actor honors at the

Milan International Film Festival Milan Film Festival (MFF), also known as Milano Film Festival, is an annual film festival held since 1996 in Milan, Italy. It was founded as a competition of only local short films. It became an international film festival in 1998 when it also st ...

. The

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

cited the film for Excellence In Filmmaking.

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thing About My Folks, The 2005 films 2000s road comedy-drama films American road comedy-drama films Picturehouse films Films directed by Raymond De Felitta 2005 comedy-drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films Films about father–son relationships Films about cancer