Review of The Fundamentals of Caring (2016) by Kaptenvideo — 01 Sep 2017
A writer (Paul Rudd) retires after a great personal tragedy and becomes a disabled teen's (Craig Roberts) caregiver.
When the two embark on an road trip, both of their abilities to cope with the real world is put under a test. Also appearing: Julia Denton, Jennifer Ehle, Selena Gomez et al.
There’s something enduringly endearing about Paul Rudd. He’s only an OK actor, and he does way too many bland and generic comedies… but I still find him cool and want to see most everything he shows up in.
This is actually one the better ones. It's not really good, per se... but at least one of the less bland and generic ones.
Based on a novel by Jonathan Evison, written and directed by Rob Burnett, produced as a Netflix original, it’s a bittersweet comedy about not being a **** and trying to live every once in a while.
It has a heart in right place but looking back, I’d like to criticize more than applaud the result. Writer-director Burnett has tried definitely too hard creating an authentic and hip story to really get away with it.
It would probably help if two of the three main female characters were more realistic or at least more compatible with the general tone, not as exaggerated and shallow as they are now.
Also, Burnett seems to be much better at adding the storylines than working with them, so most of the stuff brought in gets carelessly thrown overboard at some point without proper development or closure. Well, at least the central story of taking a road trip gets enough attention.
Rudd is charming as usual, but he doesn't quite have all the range needed for playing this character. He’s fine most of the time because he speaks little and acting grumpy is easy, but all in all, it's easy to notice a certain lack of depth to his acting. Wish they used somebody more diverse actor for that role.
The best thing here is Craig Roberts giving a quirky, deadpan performane as foul-mouthed disabled teen.
Roberts is probably still best known for his breakthrough role in 2010’s „Submarine“, but this is certainly a good follow-up. I kind of felt him channeling young Edward Norton and young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which is a good company to hang out in.
"Fundamentals" is quite OK but it doesn't really hold together well, if you begin to think about it. But...
This review of The Fundamentals of Caring (2016) was written by Kaptenvideo on 01 Sep 2017.
The Fundamentals of Caring has generally received positive reviews.
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