Reviewed by Kevin Finnerty
“I’m Jonathan Flynn. Everything I write is a masterpiece,” says Robert De Niro as Mr. Flynn who believes himself to be one of the three great American writers who has yet to be discovered in the dramatic film, Being Flynn.
This is not Jonathan Flynn’s story though, not according to his estranged son, Nick (Paul Dano), Nick believes it’s his. Working at a homeless shelter while trying to figure out what he really wants to do with his life, Nick is shocked to see his eccentric and racist father turn up at the shelter. His dad’s fallen on hard times after losing his job as a cab driver and is looking for a place to stay and a bed for the night. Still deeply struggling with the loss of his mother, Jody (Julianne Moore), and blaming his father for everything that ever went wrong in his and his mother’s lives, Nick does not want to deal or even see his father at the shelter. Night after night, Nick witnesses his father slipping more and more into a scattered and lost sense of reality.
Desperately trying to avoid a son’s responsibility to his long-absent parent and have a relationship with one of his co-workers, Denise (Olivia Thirlby), Nick begins to realize the cold hard fact that he’s not going to be able to escape having to confront the ghosts of his past. This realization could possibly mean discovering a new relationship with Jonathan.
Based on a true story, Being Flynn is a bland, slow-paced melodrama that isn’t improved with an unimpressive and at times over the top performance by Robert De Niro. The forced and uninteresting relationship between Dano’s Nick and De Niro’s Jonathan has no real depth or emotional impact.
Paul Dano’s performance as the long-suffering, self-destructive Nick is too nonchalant and at times downright boring, and the audience can’t ever become invested or interested in his struggle. De Niro’s portrayal of Jonathan Flynn is at times so overbearing and larger than life, especially during his stay at the homeless shelter (which seems like it’s never going to end) that it becomes tedious and tiresome. The one stand out solid performance in the film is by Olivia Thirlby as Denise the co-worker who starts to have a physical relationship with Nick and begins to care for him but fears getting to0 close and dragged down into his dark all-consuming family drama.
Ultimately, Being Flynn is a moody, brooding film focusing on two very unlikeable characters who everyone would be better off not knowing.
GRADE: C-
Being Flynn is rated R for language throughout, some sexual content, drug use, and brief nudity.
