Featuring an all-star cast and a unique story, the stars were all aligned for Vivi Friedman's The Family Tree. Sadly insufficient dialogue and one-dimensional characters prevent the film from reaching its full potential as it crawled to the finish line both exhausted and dehydrated.
Hope Davis leads an impressive ensemble as Bunnie Burnett, a wife and mother who finds herself in a hospital bed after a fluke accident leaves her with severe short term memory loss. But a true blessing in disguise, the incident allows her extremely dysfunctional family a second chance at a life filled with love and happiness.
Dermot Mulroney, Selma Blair, Christina Hendricks, Max Thierlot, Jane Seymour, Bow Wow and Brittany Robertson are strong staples within the film, however their roles hardly get the development required to truly care about them as they struggle through each of their unusual predicaments.
The oddball humor is what keeps The Family Tree from completely collapsing, especially during the second act where little to no story evolves. The final ten minutes are the best in the film, and while I won't go as far as to say that my time was wasted here, I will admit that I wish it had been spent on something with a little more substance. Director Vivi Friedman brings little to the table from behind the camera, giving the film an unneeded 'freshman' feel that provides yet another obstacle for the feature.
Overall the film wasn't terrible, but in a world where independent films are beckoning for some notice, The Family Tree wastes a truly flawless cast by giving audiences a forgetful film featuring a heap of forgetful characters.
