The Family Tree

R

Released Aug 26, 2011

1 hr. 35 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

10%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

24%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

An unusual accident leaves an Ohio woman (Hope Davis) with amnesia, leading to a second chance at happiness for herself and her family.

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Premiered May 09

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Audience Member

So much wasted potential. I should have known that when in the opening credits, the theme song title is an F word (and is repeated over and over and over) and is accompanied by nudity that I was going to hate this, but something possessed me to keep watching. I like Dermot Mulroney but even that wasn't nearly enough. The Family Tree is nothing at all like the description except for the wife being left with a case of mild amnesia. It does have some funny moments, but mostly this movie is a lot of sexual humor and situations, swearing, nudity and did I mention, horrible? I saw and felt absolutely no heartwarming attributes at all and the more I watched, the worse it became. I almost turned it off, but by that time I was about 75% finished and figured that i might as well waste the rest of my time by finishing it. Ugh... It's too bad really because I was on a roll watching movies that I expected to be bad but turned out to be good. This one isn't bad, actually. Bad would have been a major improvement.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

georgan g

Just not all that great. Didn't hate it. Seen much worse.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

OK, all critics look hating it. I found it kinda funny however. A comedy form of "American Beauty".

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Family Tree is a movie that is such a formulaic crapfest it doesn't even deserve for me to take time out of my schedule to write-up this review of it as I already WASTED an hour and a half of my time trying to appreciate some aspect of it (Christina Hendricks is in it for all of 3 minutes in the first twelve and gone for the remainder). I couldn't find anything else here ... and I rarely say I "wasted" my time when talking about movies (I willingly watched the sequel to Garfield to review it for friends and family); but this IS time wasted. The movie takes so many swipes and swings at many hot-button topics (religion, sexuality, adultery and marriage) that it is all muddled and ridiculous. So much is thrown at this family of wretched individuals that the audience cannot even keep all of the stupid storylines straight -- none of it is reasonable or plausible. This might be one for those who want to "go back" to a nostalgic past of glory ... and this movie is everything that is wrong with that mindset.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Humorous and character rich. Enjoy!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Frances H

The Family Tree is a good example of why I don't believe in allowing critics to decide which movies I decide which movies I will watch. If I judged on the basis of the reviews I read here, I wouldn't have viewed this one, and on a dark comedy level, I found it very amusing--far more so than the acclaimed Tree of Life, which took the same subject seriously. While the latter film had beautiful cinematography and some lovely lyric moments, it was also confusing and often boringly slow paced, whereas the former movie was entertaining throughout. And after all, aren't films supposed to be a form of entertainment?

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/20/12

Full Review

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Vivi Friedman

Director

Dermot Mulroney

Jack Burnett

Hope Davis

Bunnie Burnett

Chi McBride

Simon Krebbs

Max Thieriot

Eric Burnett

Britt Robertson

Kelly Burnett

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Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

To judge from the talent she drew for her shaky debut, Vivi Friedman must either be very well connected or an awfully smooth talker.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 26, 2011

Full Review

Sara Stewart

New York Post

"Mad Men" devotees may show up for Christina Hendricks, who plays Mulroney's buxom secretary. Quite the acting stretch.

Rated: 1/4

Aug 26, 2011

Full Review

Gary Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

Friedman's inability to successfully reconcile the film's duality undercuts an eclectic cast gamely committed to Mark Lisson's thematically ambitious, if scattered, script.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 25, 2011

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Warrants consideration on the basis of Hope Davis's strong performance.

Rated: 2.5/4.0

Sep 7, 2020

Full Review

Sean Kernan

We Got This Covered

The Family Tree is a surprisingly funny dysfunctional family comedy that manages to entertain throughout.

Rated: 8/10

Mar 1, 2013

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...a misguided and thoroughly obnoxious piece of work that wears out its welcome almost immediately.

Rated: 1/4

Nov 23, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

An unusual accident leaves an Ohio woman (Hope Davis) with amnesia, leading to a second chance at happiness for herself and her family.

Director: Vivi Friedman
Executive Producer: Jess Franco, Marc Toberoff
Screenwriter: Mark Lisson
Distributor: Entertainment One
Production Co: Driving Lessons
Rating: R (Some Violence|Drug Use|Sexual Content|Pervasive Language)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 26, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 21, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $3.7K

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