Familial comedies have been around since the beginning of cinema, and as this movie proves, the same themes are still being explored more than a century later.  The main differences are the ways in which the stories are being told; silent films didn’t have water cannon things to embarrass the bare-assed star in front of his movie parents.  At least, not that I have ever seen.

Laura Terruso’s film has comic Sebastian Maniscalco portraying a fictional version of himself (like Nicolas Cage did recently?  Not really).  Sebastian has fallen in love with Ellie (Leslie Bibb) and wants to marry her, but his traditional father Salvo (Robert De Niro) is unsure.  So Sebastian takes Salvo with him to visit Ellie and her rich parents (David Rasche and Kim Cattrall) for a fun-filled weekend.  You can imagine the culture clash and various embarrassments that result.

Some of this PG-13 film’s humor is crude, but more of it is cultural (Italian vs. American) or familial (parents vs. grown children) or class-based (rich vs. lower middle class).  It took me a while to warm up to Sebastian, who, thankfully never really loses his temper (his patience is a gift), but eventually I did.  I was actually less impressed with Robert De Niro, whose role seems under-written and over-performed.  Yet what could have easily turned into a feast of cruelty and degradation somehow manages to find a nice tone, not too rough or crude and not too schmaltzy.  All in all it is a pleasant diversion with some nice moments.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  6 July 2023.