Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

"The Thing About My Folks" begins with Sam (Peter Falk) dropping by unannounced to the home of his son, Ben (Paul Reiser). They ask him why he unexpectedly showed up, Sam is rather nonchalant. Then, almost like an afterthought, he mentions that his wife just left him! Sam is shocked to hear that his parents have broken up after 46 years and immediately he and his siblings all talk on the phone about what to do. Well, for the meantime, Sam will stay with Ben and his family...and then?Shortly after, Ben takes Sam on a trip to see some property he might buy out in the country. However, soon Sam suggests that instead of going back home that they go on a road trip--and where, exactly, he has no idea. Much of the rest of the movie is a meandering affair where the father and son bond and get to know each other better. After all, Sam had been a hardworking guy and there were a lot of things the two missed--and now they wanted to do some of them.This portion of the film was wonderful. While somewhat plot less, it was a nice slice of life and some of these moments where the pair talked about their relationship were exquisitely made. Unfortunately, the end was a bit of a misdirection--and took the film in a much darker direction (particularly the very end). Still, like real life, things aren't always funny but deadly serious--so I am not so much criticizing but warning the viewer. Overall, some lovely performances in a movie whose main deficit is that it does not maintain a lot of the great momentum you saw during the road trip portion. Still, well worth seeing.

Meh. This will not go down in history as a memorable movie. At least not for me it won't. The only thing memorable about it would be Peter Falk's less than masterful overdoing of the Jewish father schtick. And I generally have quite a soft spot for Peter Falk...The movie overall was OK, but just in the most general sense. The plot line started out interesting but fizzled badly in the end. No real strength to the whole story. Paul Reiser did not do his best work here either. I don't think any of the actors really meshed with each other. Instead of telling a story, they kept kind of acting "at" each other. There was a woodenness about the whole effect. Even the great Olympia Dukakis could not get into her character's groove. And you only saw her for about ten minutes at the very end. But it's the worst acting I've ever seen from her, ever. Which isn't saying much, I know, because she is otherwise a fabulous actress. Let's just say her acting in this probably embarrassed all her acting coaches. It was not good.Elisabeth Perkins was pretty, as usual, but completely lacked character or depth. The few witty lines she was given somehow just didn't make the cut either. They all fell kind of flat. You somehow knew they were meant to be funny, but just couldn't see the actual funny part for yourself.All in all, a pretty ho-hum little movie that I would never take the time to watch again.

This movie could have been 15 minutes long if it weren't for all the bickering between son and father. Very predictable. Both Male "stars" need a good slap in the face! Would you like some cheese with that "whine?" Two chuckles...and a headache. I can understand why the mother left her hubby after 47 years...I don't know how she lasted that long! The first 5 minutes made me want to turn the movie off wishing I had never paid the $3.99 to watch it! The movie didn't flow well and was painfully long. I kept watching my watch hoping time would fly faster...It didn't. The script had so much repetition that it had to be easy for the writer to fill space. On a positive note...the scenery was pretty, fall being my favorite season. The car, the 40 Ford was also quite nice. This movie gets an D- rating approaching an F

I enjoyed this film, perhaps because I had not seen any reviews, etc. It was delightful and a little bit of a 'romp'. I don't know why it didn't make more of a splash than it did. As far as the story goes, I could relate to some aspects of the Paul Reiser character, and I could "see my dad" in Falk's character. Made me remember a lot of past times when I was a kid and listening to my grandparents, too. If you enjoyed movies like Grumpy Old Men or On Golden Pond, this is your movie. A "sleeper", in my opinion, and one of those feel-good stories. Peter Falk and Paul Reiser had many wonderful verbal tussles, yet nothing was overdone. I would say it rates at least an 8, perhaps higher.