It Runs In The Family

Released: August 21 2003
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Cameron Douglas, Rory Culkin, Bernadette Peters, Diana Douglas
Director: Fred Schepisi
Genre: Drama
Rated: M
Running Time: 109 Minutes


Some families can survive anything. Even each other

Synopsis:
Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is a man caught in the middle. Trying to avoid the mistakes his father made while coming to terms with the ones he's already passed on to his own sons, Alex is navigating the tricky roles of father, son, and husband.
Onscreen together for the first time in their careers, Michael Douglas and Kirk Douglas join their real-life relations (Cameron Douglas, Diana Douglas) and a talented cast (Bernadette Peters, Rory Culkin) in a story about the loving, frustrating, reassuring, insane, and ultimately inescapable bonds of family.


My Verdict:
This movie may well have been called 'It Runs In The Douglas Family', as there are quite a few members of the Douglas family in the cast. It is not very often that we see three generations of one family in the same movie and for that reason this movie is worth a look.

Kirk Douglas as Mitchell Bromberg, is the patriarch of the Gromberg family, and is learning to cope with life after a stroke which has left him with a speech impediment. He is in fine form in this movie playing alongside his former wife Diana Douglas, who plays his wife, Evelyn, in the movie. Son, Michael, plays their son, Alex Gromberg (who else?) and his son, Cameron, plays the grandson, Asher. So, it is a family affair where we don't know how much life is imitating art except that the script was written before any of the characters had been cast.

The story is about the Gromberg family who are a well-to-do American family with the usual problems. And that's about it. It is disappointing that there isn't more depth to the story and to the characters. We follow the family through some fairly ordinary family situations and how they resolve them or don't resolve them, as the case may be. The Gromberg family story unfolds and is then woven together again after a tragedy. Still, it is worthy of merit just to see the Douglas family working together and there is a lovely soundtrack to accompany the movie.


- Christina Bruce