It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mateo Scuro, like his name, is in the dark. Both symbolically and really. With his thick-lens glasses, Mateo looks out at a world that has become distorted by progress, poor eyesight and the reality of being forgotten. A pensioner who has not seen his children in years, Mateo says goodbye to his wife in Sicily and travels to the mainland of Italy to begin a journey to see his five children. He wants to surprise them and so he does not tell them of his plans. But the real surprises are waiting for Mateo.Traveling from one city to the next, Mateo calls on each child with great anticipation to see the meaningful impact they are having on Italian life. But life quickly hits Mateo squarely between the eyes and forces him to see clearly. Each child is hiding something from their father who does not see well. Their lives are not what they appear to be. They are unhappy working in menial jobs or with their relationships. But their real secret is the crushing blow for a doting father. The youngest son, Alvaro, has committed suicide and none of the others can bring themselves to telling their father the truth.Toward the end of Tornatore's cinematic statement about the isolation of being forgotten, Mateo and his two surviving sons meet for dinner. His daughters, grandchildren and of course, Alvaro, are not present. This staple of Italian life and joy, the family table, now becomes Mateo's nightmare when he learns of Alvaro's death.Tornatore is a master of the dream sequence. In the tradition of Fellini and Wertmueller, Tornatore give us insight into Mateo's deepest fears of losing his family through a dream. We see a large, black balloon, with tether ropes hanging down, descend on a beach where Mateo, his wife and children are playing years before. As this balloon descends, picks up his children and carries them away, Mateo runs to them but cannot reach them. He watches them float away into the sky. This foreshadowing of Mateo's life comes to fruition when at the film's end, Mateo is in a hospital room recovering from an episode of what can only be interpreted as the most profound disappointment of all--the loss of one's family.Upon returning home, the camera is looking into the eyes of Mateo as he recounts to his wife the details of his trip. However as the camera pans back, we see that Mateo is speaking to the headstone of the grave where his wife is buried. As he answers his wife's imagined question of how the children are, Mateo answers, "Stanno tutti bene" (Everyone's fine).Tornatore uses dream sequences and the symbolism of being out of focus as well as in the dark with masterful irony. These images are driven home with all the force of a sledge hammer as the director takes the viewer, through Mateo, on a journey of anticipated-joys, awakenings and ultimate disillusions.Mateo's dreams, failing eyesight and loneliness are his steadfast companions through his remaining years. Tornatore paints a picture for the viewer of life as a deception from the most unlikeliest of sources--those we love the most. For Mateo, being in the dark is the best kind of medicine he could hope for--a world where Stanno Tutti Bene.

Giuseppe Tornatore is best known for the excellent, Oscar-winning "Cinema Paradiso," but unlike that film, "Everybody's Fine" is rarely talked about. One of my all-time favorite actors, Marcello Mastroianni (8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Big Deal on Madonna Street), plays Don Matteo, an aging Sicilian father of five who goes on a trip throughout Italy to try and visit all of his children. This is a trip of revelation for Matteo, who believes his children to be happy and wealthy. Gradually, the truth comes down. Throughout the movie, Matteo is haunted by dreams of a beautiful Felliniesque day at a beach in which a caravan of horses are destroyed by an ominous descending black balloon that also steals his children. This isn't the only thing in the film that is inspired by Fellini, there are a LOT of things in here that echo the great Fellini's work (including a shot of a bus driving by our main character, it's passangers with their hands on the windows glaringly staring at him...GOOD STUFF).It's a very warm, sentimental film, and I thought it was quite wonderful. Legendary composer Ennio Morricone's extraordinary score fits the film like a glove.

This really is a wonderful film. Though at times it is hard to watch. All this kind man wants is to know that his children are happy and doing okay in their adult lives. One must pay close attention to each scene because in each of these scenes, one can find some sort of message that links the whole movie together. The most important scenes to look out for are the dream sequences and the flashbacks.

Familial love and deceptions form the basis for this witty, endearing movie. Like Cinema Paradiso, from the same director, this film shows the limits of nostalgia -- and the magic of it. Heavy sentimentality.