Frank's travelling light but carrying excess baggage.
Overview
Eight months after the death of his wife, Frank Goode looks forward to a reunion with his four adult children. When all of them cancel their visits at the last minute, Frank, against the advice of his doctor, sets out on a road trip to reconnect with his offspring. As he visits each one in turn, Frank finds that his children's lives are not quite as picture-perfect as they've made them out to be.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.0/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 47%
Metacritic: 47
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Kirk Jones
Production
Miramax, Hollywood Gang Productions, Radar Pictures
Cast
Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo, Damian Young, James Frain, Kate Moennig, Brendan Sexton III, James Murtaugh, Austin Lysy, Chandler Frantz, Lily Mo Sheen, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Lucian Maisel, Ben Schwartz, Mackenzie Milone, Kene Holliday, E.J. Carroll, Lou Carbonneau
Where to watch
fuboTV
Curator Review
Verdict
A tender, quietly devastating family drama that works best when it leans into Robert De Niro’s restrained grief and the painful gap between what parents think they know and what children reveal. It’s emotionally effective, but the familiar road-movie structure and sentimental framing keep it from feeling essential.
Best for
viewers who like melancholy family dramas
fans of understated Robert De Niro performances
audiences drawn to grief, reconciliation, and late-life self-discovery
people who don’t mind a tearjerker with a soft commercial touch
Skip if
you want a fresh or formally daring drama
you dislike sentimental family melodrama
you prefer lighter road-trip stories
you’re looking for a tightly plotted film with big twists
Overview
Everybody’s Fine is built on a simple, painful premise: a widower discovers that the adult children he’s been trying to reconnect with have been hiding the messier truth of their lives. Kirk Jones keeps the movie small and observant, letting the sadness accumulate in awkward conversations, missed connections, and the quiet humiliation of a father realizing he has not been as present as he believed.
Worth noting
Robert De Niro gives the film its emotional center. He plays Frank as a man who has spent a lifetime translating love into provision and approval, only to learn that his children needed something harder to give: attention, honesty, and time. The supporting performances help the movie land its punches, especially when the family’s polished surface starts to crack.
Bottom line
The film’s weakness is also its accessibility. It’s polished, conventional, and sometimes a little too eager to guide your feelings. But if you’re in the mood for a sincere, sad family drama that earns its tears through accumulated regret rather than melodrama alone, it does the job well.
Top Letterboxd reviews
cinéfila... 🕯️ (3.5★) · 476 likes
robert deniro im free next thursday and would like to be adopted. please respond and adopt me next thursday when im free
Luke Pauli (4★) · 392 likes
How awful is that poster? Completely misses the point of the movie too. I've seen this film twice now, and I was reduced to a blubbering wreck on both occasions. A film about family and making connections and loving them regardless of their flaws, with a superb and touching performance from Robert De Niro. He does a lot of crap nowadays, but then he pulls a performance like this out of the bag to remind you how great he is.
lain (4.5★) · 306 likes
there isn't an inch of my heart that this movie didn't stomp on. look at this damn poster, who the fuck gave a movie with a poster like that the right to wreck me this bad?
Amaya (4★) · 274 likes
More like "Everybody's Miserable, fuck you and have a good cry"
barbora (3.5★) · 231 likes
this was so sad what the hell??????? looking at the poster you'd think it would be the dumbest comedy you've ever seen
2003 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 21m · PG-13 · Curator 6.0/10 (51K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A holiday family drama that finds warmth and pain in the same room, with a similarly bruised emotional texture.