ABOUT MY FATHER

Here's the decision. Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro anchor a comedy whose whole engine is a truth worth cheering: "Family is not one important thing; it's everything." The performances are fun and lively, the laughs are real, and by the end, family love and respect carry the day. On its message, this film is on the right side.

But it earns its caution. There are about 33 obscenities and profanities, including three strong profanities. The humor turns off-color — a man loses his swimming trunks on a water-propelled jetpack — and the innuendo goes with it. Sebastian and his girlfriend are living together, and her youngest brother is a New Age punchline.

So this one is a home watch for adults, not a theater trip for the family. If you want the warm-hearted father-and-son story, wait for home, where you can decide who's in the room and reach for the remote when you need to.

Sebastian is a successful Hilton hotel manager in Chicago, in love with Ellie — whose father owns a rival hotel chain and whose mother is a U.S. Senator. He wants to propose over the July Fourth weekend at her wealthy family's summer home.

There's a catch. His old-school Sicilian father, Salvo, who left Sicily fifty years ago to open a hair salon, won't hand over Grandma's engagement ring until he can look Ellie's parents in the eye. So Sebastian reluctantly brings Dad along. How long before Salvo embarrasses him in front of the future in-laws? Not long at all.

Three stars, and here's what they buy you. This is a warm, capably made comedy that leans hard on its cast — and the cast delivers. Maniscalco enlivens the story with his trademark expressions and comical mannerisms, essentially bringing his stand-up persona to the screen under his own name. De Niro is having fun, deploying comical versions of the disapproving looks he perfected as a mobster in GOODFELLAS. Leslie Bibb brings real energy as the girlfriend, and the supporting players hold up their end.

The setup is familiar — clashing families over a holiday weekend, an embarrassing parent, a proposal waiting to happen — but the execution has genuine charm and a clear affection for its characters. It's not reinventing the form; it's doing a well-worn form well. That's worth three stars.

At its core this is a strong pro-family film, and it says so out loud. Salvo's motto — "Family is not one important thing; it's everything" — is the spine of the whole story, and by the end family love and respect win the day. That's a conviction Scripture shares: honor for parents, patience with their flaws, the recognition that the people we're given are a gift and not an accident.

The film even draws a smart contrast between two kinds of parental failure. Ellie's parents coddle her, treating her like a fragile princess who can't achieve on her own. Salvo does the opposite — no coddling, all frank, tell-it-like-it-is honesty that embarrasses his grown son. The movie lets both children grow up a little, and both parents soften. That's a healthy picture.

The blemishes are worldly rather than deep. Sebastian and Ellie are living together before the proposal, which the film treats as unremarkable. And Ellie's youngest brother is written as a flaky New Age type — meditating during a "sound bath" — played for easy laughs. Neither is dwelt on, but both are there.

The longing underneath the comedy is real: to belong, to be known by your own people, to be honored across generations. Scripture keeps that command close: "Honor your father and mother" (Ephesians 6:2).

There's a real heart here — a father and son learning to honor each other, and a film unashamed to say family is everything. But the language is heavy and the humor gets crude, so this is a grown-up watch best enjoyed at home. Our answer, same as the box: wait for home — adults only. Looking for something the whole family can enjoy tonight? Try our latest family-friendly picks.