Being Flynn 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: A tale of failed fatherhood intertwined with issues of addiction and homelessness. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A handful of acting moments aside, "Being Flynn" is a drama without much in the way of rewards. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: There is honest feeling, genuine humanity and real intelligence in this movie, but there is also a sense of caution, of indecisiveness, that undermines its potential power. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Pretty cut-rate. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The movie's emotional content was manifest as an absence. What stayed with me most memorably was the father's insufferable bombast and the son's sad passivity. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: For a movie that deals with suicide, homelessness and cocaine addiction, writer-director Paul Weitz's latest family drama feels strangely bland. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: The film's tricky style, which plays with time, voice, and expectations, goes a long way toward spinning intrigue out of a story that could have been cloying and flatly manipulative in other hands. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The story is gripping, compelling. One wonders what De Niro might have done with such a role 30, 35 years ago. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "Being Flynn'' is earnest to a fault, and it offers the now-rare sight of De Niro giving an actual performance. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [De Niro] never finds any poetry in Flynn's bellicose soul. He just makes you wish that the guy would shut up. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: With a chilly color palette and a suitably melancholy score, Being Flynn does a decent job of finding its own poetry in the way that its characters write, and rewrite, and revise their own lives. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Robert De Niro and writer-director Paul Weitz find the most congenial material either of them has had in quite some time in Being Flynn, a fractious father-son drama with a soul-warming gentle core. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: For all its good intentions and talented performers and filmmakers, "Being Flynn" leaves you feeling as if everyone is trying a little too hard. Sometimes, less really is more. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Weitz digs diligently for emotional truths and makes the most of his excellent cast. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Yes, it has a fine performance by De Niro. Yes, it briefly brings us into the middle of a homeless hell. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: It's easy to imagine Being Flynn's story turning precious in the wrong hands, but Weitz and his cast spin it just right - as a narrative that is both emotionally real, and just writerly enough to suit its leading men. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: De Niro is fully committed, and few things are more watchable than when he gets cranky. Dano, though, is miscast. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The real coup de grace for this would-be serious-minded drama is the sledgehammer-subtle direction of Paul Weitz... Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Being Flynn is the kind of Dante nightmare actors find fun to play, but it's hell for an audience to watch. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: What's so satisfying about Weitz films like this one is how his lost boys and lost adults find themselves in the awkward dance of intimacy. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: De Niro returns to genius form in 'Being Flynn.' Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: To summon up his most iconic role must represent De Niro's faith in this film. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's been ages since De Niro tackled a character as rich and challenging as this, and he tackles it head-on. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: He might be guilty of showboating, but De Niro's knockout performance is a declaration that the star of "Raging Bull" isn't ready to hang up his gloves. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: I'm happy to report that De Niro hasn't lost his chops. At least not quite. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Writer-director Paul Weitz can't make the solipsistic central protagonists interesting, even though his best films (About a Boy, In Good Company) deal with surrogate father-son relationships. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Heads downward in every sense of the word. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Weitz...began adapting Flynn's book for the screen eight years ago. It's too bad that he didn't figure out in the ensuing years that it was not worth his efforts. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Ultimately, being either Flynn doesn't seem terribly appealing. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: What the actors are unable to get across emotionally (which is a lot-Dano and De Niro, both of them all big actorly tics, often seem like they were filmed in different rooms), Weitz hammers home via near-constant music. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A little more nuance would benefit the film, which eventually starts to feel belabored, even bleak. Read more