Being Flynn

Based on Nick Flynn's memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City—about the author's strained relationship with his father—director Paul Weitz's film stars Robert De Niro as boozy, volatile Jonathan Flynn, who has turned himself into a street bum in his quest for recognition as a great writer. Paul Dano costars as Nick in a performance that is so low-key and mannered—compared to De Niro's over-the-top intensity—that it seems to inhabit an entirely different universe. Being Flynn is constructed as a sort of joint biography, with the two men alternately narrating. Nick is a rootless, jobless young man grieving the suicide of the hardworking mother who raised him alone after both were abandoned by Jonathan nearly two decades earlier. Nick is also an aspiring writer, but is much less sure of his talent than his racist, viciously homophobic, alcoholic father, who abruptly contacts his son and eventually winds up living at the homeless shelter where Nick works. Having to deal with his unruly parent leads Nick to drugs, after which he has to rescue himself while trying to help Jonathan. Unfortunately, De Niro's ferocity is so extreme that it throws Dano's more subtle work into the shade, undermining the balance and turning this often interesting effort into an oddly misshapen and uneven film. An optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (6 min.) and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a small extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)