Watch It Runs in the Family For Free

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

"It Runs in the Family" is a juxtaposition of fiction and reality that as a family drama that centers around three generations of the Douglas family that has its fair share of dysfunctional traits as the fictional Gromberg family portrayed here. Kirk Douglas stars as Mitchell Gromberg, the head patriarch of the family and Evelyn Gromberg plays his wife which is the real life ex-wife of Kirk's, Diana Douglas. Their lawyer son is Alex played by Kirk's real-life son Michael Douglas who also served the movie's producer. While the film is running, one has to wonder how the relationship between Mitchell and Alex close reflect to the rel-life bonding of Kirk and Michael. In addition to this family casting is Cameron Douglas in his debut as the elder grandson Asher. The movie reflects upon the interactions of the the characters, which is apropos to the personal experiences that the Douglas family has encountered over the years. The remaining cast includes Rory Culkin's role as Asher's younger brother Eli and Bernadette Peters as Alex's psychiatrist wife, Rebecca. The centerpiece of this story concentrates on the lack of family traits in an Upper-class Jewish-American family in a middle-class Manhattan estate. The head of the household is the aging Mitchell who opened a successful law firm where Alex is also employed. Mitchell has lost a step or two from a stroke that has caused him to lose clarity in his voice and a loss of physical attributes which now he has to depend on his son and grandson to pick up the pieces he left behind. While this is happening, the female clan are depending on themselves to keep everything under control of these difficult times. But the setbacks take a turn for the ugly become a hindrance to the family's stability. Asher becomes a pot-dealer and failing his first semester in college, Alex is schemed by an assistant at the soup kitchen he volunteers at, and Eli has alienated himself from the family that he depends on an Excel spreadsheet as a communicative tool to ask for an allowance. Sure it's not all drama, there are some very humorous moments in the movie. Sure there's tragedy in the movie that has two members die, but their deaths symbolize the distance the family has upon each other and it was never padded on for good measure.The complexity of the story wheels upon the various family issues as they try to thrive upon the need to succeed, the values of love and dominance, while facing the tribulations of grief, and moving on in a new chapter of life regardless of age. It will open your heart, but won't always leave you in tears, but more in observing the feelings the characters have while coping through the difficult stages one has to go through. Sure the humor is very useful during the tragic stages, but the emotional scenes are hard to swallow that you're left with no choice but to feel like you need to be involved with their situations. The complexity of this story does have its setbacks as well. It feels like there was no conclusion to the story. The only sub-plots that end are the ones where two characters have to die off. Granted nothing is completely resolved in the end, but it does have some potential for hope. The acting was brilliant and it is a great slice of life, so if you like emotional tearjerkers, then this movie's for you. I gave it an eight instead of nine or ten, because I feel that I shouldn't watch this movie multiple times. Maybe twice the most. Or a third if I'm in the mood. I think of it as a low-budget version of "Moonlight Mile" which centers on similar themes as "It Runs in the Family". It's a great watch (not excellent), but if you ask me what the moral to the ending of the story is, taken from the words of Eli when a question comes to him, "whatever".

The Gromberg family is a family with some problems.The patriarch of the family, Mitchell Cromberg is an old man just waiting for his death after a stroke he has suffered.But according to doctor he still has a few good years left.His wife Evelyn isn't young, either.His lawyer son Alex has some issues with his father.There are also some problems with his wife Rebecca.His son Asher is in college and does drugs.The younger son Eli is socially awkward.It Runs in the Family (2003 is directed by Fred Schepisi.It puts some members of the family Douglas together in this movie.Kirk Douglas,a true legend, plays Mitchell.His son Michael Douglas is Alex.It was a real pleasure watching those father-son moments.It His son I really enjoyed watching all those Douglases together.

I think the only person who's not a member of the Douglas clan in 'It Runs In The Family' is director Fred Schepisi. Okay, I exaggerate, but there are 3 generations PLAYING 3 generations (Kirk, Michael, and Cameron) and Kirk's ex-wife even plays his doting wife in the film. This is the first time that Kirk & Michael have worked together since the son's bit part in dad's '66 war drama 'Cast A Giant Shadow'. Young Cameron makes his film debut here and doesn't embarrass himself while acting with his world-famous elders. Bernadette Peters and Rory Culkin round out the headlining cast as the mother and youngest son of the Gromberg family.This picture received plenty of publicity in spring '03 because it was a rare on-screen appearance by movie god Kirk Douglas. He doesn't stray too far from his own reality as a stroke victim with a loving wife and a successful son. In the movie, the Grombergs are New York lawyers. It must have been an act of will not to make them movie producers or something filmic. The drama is actually mostly melodrama, some of which doesn't work. Mitchell (Kirk) has a complicated relationship with Alex (Michael), who has difficult relations with his own sons. Every character goes through romantic troubles of one kind or another (death of a beloved, first love, infidelity) and the movie deserves credit for managing to be cute, but not cloying. It even ends on the right note of non-finality, which I assume was a contribution by Schepisi (who's good at leaving some realistic loose ends in his films).Kirk probably comes off best here. He does a thing with pillows that just might bust your heart in two. Michael isn't stretching himself (although you can read the reverence for his dad in his eyes) and while Bernadette Peters & Rory Culkin do a nice job, they're merely providing low-key support to the Douglas gang. Kirk's still got it, even if he has to work extra hard to form sentences. The ferocity of 'The Bad And The Beautiful' isn't there anymore (hey, the guy is 88 this year, so the fact that he's working at all is amazing), but Kirk shows some funny facial expressions and double-takes. He's never anything less than compelling, which is the way it's always been in his career.'It Runs In The Family' was in & out of theatres in about 19 minutes last year, which is a shame. While I'm being generous to recommend it, I confess that I enjoyed myself and really grew to like what was going on in this flick. The humour is scatter-shot, but I like that they didn't camp it up and go for cheap gags. Perhaps Michael, Kirk & company have never had a strained relationship the way the Gromberg's do, but they play the pathos in Jesse Wigutow's script well enough to make you care. Am I being so nice because it's such a treat to see a feisty Kirk Douglas working again? Maybe, but I felt good about these characters, warts and all. Perhaps the Douglas' will do something else together and get Catherine Zeta-Jones to join in the fun.

It's sad to see Fred Shipisi's name on such a mess of a vanity project for the Douglas family. And it's creepy to watch Kirk Douglas's ex-wife play his loving wife in the movie. The best thing in it is Rory Culkin, who seems to have wandered in from another, more interesting, film. Not worth renting.