About My Father
Lionsgate | Release Date: May 26, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
8
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
IndieWireJude DryMay 24, 2023
Secure in his standing as a marquis comedian, Maniscalco makes movies like a guy with nothing to prove, and his confidence buoys and brightens About My Father. Read full review
75
ColliderNate RichardMay 24, 2023
Maniscalco has built himself a very large and dedicated following through his work in stand-up, and with About My Father, he's finally able to bring his jokes to the big screen in a way that will please his fans but also garner him some new loyal followers as well. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd GilchristMay 24, 2023
Maniscalco hasn’t quite proven he can carry a movie that’s not inspired by or “about” him, but this first effort is charming and earnest enough to encourage viewers to meet him where he’s currently at in his career. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 30, 2023
This is sit-com level material and, as such, there’s not much new or interesting that De Niro can bring to the proceedings. Read full review
58
Original-CinThom ErnstMay 30, 2023
Director Laura Terruso overlooks several comedic opportunities in About My Father. It’s as though she’s working from a script that’s been edited by someone who got the situations but not the jokes. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzMay 30, 2023
De Niro, bless his heart, is the engine that keeps this refurbished jalopy puttering along for 90 minutes. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 25, 2023
The supporting cast has its moments, but this movie sinks or swims with this father-son dynamic. And their banter, not the constant “ba-da-BING” of would-be punchlines voiced-over by Maniscalco, is what’s funny. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 24, 2023
This a sweet, mostly cute story about the importance of the people we’re related to, peppered with some fairly broad and not especially hilarious yuks. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 24, 2023
About My Father isn’t horrible. It’s not great. It just sort of exists as a passion project for Maniscalco, an OK gig for most of the rest of the cast and another curious line on De Niro’s resume. Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiMay 30, 2023
The film’s cast is great and, though the actors typically have great comedic timing, the dialogue falls flat and renders the humor inert. About My Father has a heart at its center, but it never really gets there in terms of having a compelling story and humor to elevate its scenes. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 25, 2023
Alas, in less than an hour and a half of running time (the director Laura Terruso does orchestrate the proceedings with a palpable sense of dispatch), the movie demonstrates how quickly “amiable and inconsequential” can shift to “hackneyed and labored.” Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 24, 2023
The film’s genuine sweetness and affection for its characters go a long way toward compensating for its numbing overfamiliarity. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonMay 24, 2023
I admire Maniscalco’s decision to make his character the butt of the jokes, literally and figuratively. If only the jokes were funny. He has zero romantic chemistry with Bibb, who appears to be acting in another movie entirely, but he and De Niro make a credible father and son. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithMay 25, 2023
The entire film feels like an exceedingly stale stand-up comedy routine, which is to say it’s exactly like one of Mr. Maniscalco’s stand-up comedy routines. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinMay 25, 2023
It opts for too many broad, clunky or far-fetched beats to move the story and its requisite emotional needs forward, rather than weave a more organic, effectively lived-in and, yes, genuinely funny tale. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleTrace SauveurMay 24, 2023
Maniscalco often talks about his father in his stand-up acts. Watching this film enforces the idea that maybe that’s where this story should have stayed. Read full review
25
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerMay 25, 2023
Beyond the tepid cultural commentary, the film has few other redeeming qualities. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonMay 25, 2023
There is not one line of dialogue or one sight gag in About My Father that can’t be found in other bad comedies, and Maniscalco . . . and director Laura Terruso seem to believe the path to humor is to go as far over the top as possible. Read full review
12
The Associated PressMark KennedyMay 24, 2023
Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco has co-written and stars in this big sloppy Italian American kiss about family that not only leans into stereotypes — working-class Italians on one side, WASPs on the other — but plows the field with them. Read full review
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