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Movies / On DVD / It Runs in the Family
It Runs in the Family

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It Runs in the Family (2003)

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Reviews Counted:96

Fresh:27

Rotten:69

Average Rating:4.5/10

Consensus: Despite its gimmick casting, the movie ultimately goes nowhere.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for drug content, sexual material and language

Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Apr 25, 2003 Wide

Box Office: $7,375,836

Synopsis: Some families can survive everything. Even each other. The Grombergs are a highly successful family – except when it comes to communicating with each other. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is... Some families can survive everything. Even each other. The Grombergs are a highly successful family – except when it comes to communicating with each other. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is a man caught in the middle. Navigating the tricky, ever-changing roles of father, son, and husband, he’s trying to avoid the mistakes his father made while coming to terms with the ones he’s already passed on to his own sons. Alex’s wife, Rebecca (Bernadette Peters), is a psychologist trying to balance a professional life with her marriage and raising her kids. Mitchell Gromberg (Kirk Douglas), the patriarch and a retired partner of one of New York’s leading law firms, is having difficulty coming to grips with his mortality. Evelyn (Diana Douglas) is his devoted wife and has been his emotional rock throughout their marriage – and the peacemaker between him and Alex. Asher Gromberg (Cameron Douglas), Alex’s eldest son, is a rebellious college student trying to cope with life, love, and sex in a confused society. And Eli (Rory Culkin), Alex’s 11-year old, is perhaps the "oldest" and most levelheaded of all the Gromberg men. Three generations of an American family, they all live separate lives, each in their own dysfunctional way. But every once in awhile, there comes a time to come together – to celebrate, to laugh, to fight, to cry, and to care for each other. Onscreen together for the first time in their careers, Academy Award-winners Michael Douglas and Kirk Douglas join real-life relations Cameron Douglas and Diana Douglas, along with Bernadette Peters and Rory Culkin, to tell a story about the loving, frustrating, and ultimately inescapable bonds of family. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Buena Vista International present Michael Douglas and Kirk Douglas in It Runs in the Family, a Furthur Films production of a Fred Schepisi film. Directed by Schepisi and written by Jesse Wigutow, the film also stars Rory Culkin, Cameron Douglas, Diana Douglas, Michelle Monaghan, and Bernadette Peters. Produced by Michael Douglas, It Runs in the Family was executive produced by Schepisi and Kerry Orent, with Marcy Drogin as co-producer and Joel Douglas as associate producer. The production team includes director of photography Ian Baker, production designer Patrizia Von Brandenstein, editor Kate Williams, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, composer Paul Grabowsky, and music supervisor Susan Jacobs. [More]

Starring: Michael Douglas, Rory Culkin, Diana Douglas, Bernadette Peters

Starring: Michael Douglas, Rory Culkin, Diana Douglas, Bernadette Peters, Kirk Douglas, Cameron Douglas, Michelle Monaghan

Director: Fred Schepisi

Director: Fred Schepisi
Screenwriter: Jesse Wigutow
Producer: Michael Keaton, Michael Douglas
Composer: Paul Grabowsky
Studio: MGM/UA

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Release:

Oct 21, 2003

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Reviews for It Runs in the Family

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41 - 60 (sorted by date)
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Things happen, all of which have been seen before and scripted better.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
04/26/03
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

Worthwhile, though the story is predictable.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
04/25/03
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

Director Fred Schepisi's Last Order is exactly the kind of rueful, bittersweet comedy-drama this film appears intended to be, but the mawkish sitcom schtick about loved ones driving each other crazy defeats him.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
04/25/03
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Acting together for the first time, Kirk and Michael Douglas have some powerful scenes together, which only makes you wish the entire project had tilted more towards Eugene O'Neill than Neil Simon.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
04/25/03
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Much better than its sappy ads make it look.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/25/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A pretty unpalatable blend of syrup and formaldehyde-basted turkey.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
04/25/03
Mary Brennan
Mary Brennan
Seattle Times

Achingly long and pointless, Runs is a movie about family that's dishonest in its presentation of every relationship.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/25/03
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A well-cooked soup of family cliches, another ancestor of TV's The Goldbergs and Neil Simon, etc. Thankfully, it is not another version of The Jazz Singer.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
04/25/03
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

A messy movie about the messiness that family life often involves.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
04/25/03
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

Though well-intentioned, it's not terribly compelling.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
04/25/03
Kim Morgan
Kim Morgan
Oregonian

Edgier and a lot less sappy than you'd expect, but there are way too many complications in the mix.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
04/25/03
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Despite rich acting and expert direction, the two grids don't snap neatly together.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
04/25/03
Bob Campbell
Bob Campbell
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Three generations of the Kirk Douglas family strain against mawkish material about a dysfunctional family that ties up all its loose ends in 109 cringe-worthy minutes.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/25/03
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This sort of message can become unbearably sappy. But It Runs in the Family manages to sidestep the potential overload of cheap sentimentality.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
04/25/03
Connie Ogle
Connie Ogle
Miami Herald

It Runs in the Family is the best look at aging and family dynamics since On Golden Pond and benefits from the same magical formula.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
04/25/03
Louis B. Hobson
Louis B. Hobson
Jam! Movies

It is impossible to know where the fiction leaves off and real life begins in [the Douglas'] tough-love exchanges, but the result is often electric, especially when the movie is in its darkest places emotionally.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
04/25/03
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Jesse Wigutow has written a tale of people we don’t really care about and thus the bickering between and within the three generations of the Gromberg family doesn’t mean all that much.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
04/25/03
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

As conveyances go, this is no vehicle -- it's a train. Unfortunately, the train keeps hopping the tracks.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/25/03
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

Sometimes shrill, often dull, it has nowhere in particular to go, and it takes far too long not getting there.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
04/25/03
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

Leaden comedy-drama.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
04/25/03
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
 
 
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