It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Dear Mara Lesemann, Thanks so much for sharing "Surviving Family" with us! We loved it. We laughed and cried. The characters are so real and believable. I love getting absorbed in a film like yours, and feeling empathy for the characters, and really wanting them to fight through the pain of the past to get back to the joys of living. The interaction between the siblings rings so true -- love and annoyance and familiarity and clinging to past impressions. It makes me want to reach out to my siblings, and reminds me that we all go through the whole range of good and bad, but that our families are our permanent past of which we must make the best, for the sake of our future. Keeping creating and sending out your messages of art to the world, because it is stuff we all need to hear. And tell Carlo Fiorletta that his performance reminded me of the time that he was my supervisor at BT (just kidding, there were no nuns there...)

About halfway through this film, as we were continuing to unravel the mysteries of Tara, her family, and her past, it occurred to me that the script had to have been written by a woman. Nothing wrong with that, but the men seemed to pop in for a few minutes and then disappear. The father, literally. The brother, most of the time, except for his reappearance at the wedding. An old boyfriend at the bar, her sister's first husband "for about six weeks."Not sure why Aunt Mary's role had her heading to Atlantic City with the senior citizens, rather than making the wedding, but her disappearance seemed odd as well.Okay, I get it. Families are hard, esp. when mom is bipolar. Oh, and now the niece is too. Will this same malady be visited on the newborn? Then there were the actors: easy on the eyes but somehow missing the touch of reality that comes from better acting. The sister in particular looked like her face was pinched. The Say Yes to the Dress scene added very little to the film, and the wedding cake bit didn't provide much either.The entire film felt like someone had a bipolar member in the family, it hit hard, led to years of therapy, and was turned into a film. Thumbs down.

Surviving Family paints a realistic view of a dysfunctional family and the resultant baggage each member carries. It demonstrates how children can be affected by tragedies especially when their "whys?" go unanswered and how the consequences of family secrets can distort the truth and affect their relationships as they grow up. Every once in a while a movie challenges you to think.This is that kind of movie. The actors are great. Phyllis Somerville, a veteran actress finally clears the air about the Malone family for niece Terry played by talented Sarah Wilson. Her fiancée is played by Billy Magnussen who went from this movie on to Broadway and is now debuting in Steven Spielberg's INTO THE WOODS.Incidentally, he's a hunk. For those of you who are Soprano fans Vincent Pastore plays the mayor of the town. This is a well written, well acted, well photographed unpretentious movie that makes you think.See it. You'll like it.

I saw "Surviving Family," at the Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City in a beautifully restored movie palace and the entire evening was a great one, where independent film is concerned.The ambiance of watching a movie in grand movie palace once owned by MGM blended with a very hard-edged yet enjoyable independent film such as Surviving Family. Beautifully shot by Laura Thies from a brilliant screenplay by Mara Lesemann, the film has an odd mix of sweetness and tragedy. It's got moments of comedy blended in with the heavy drama.Buoyed by a strong performance from Sarah Wilson, who plays Terry Malone a young woman returning home to get married at her family's home. However, it's not all wine and roses, as Terry has several ghosts from her past that are still haunting her. Tragedy, alcoholism and other obstacles threaten to ruin the very marriage she came to start here.There are also tremendous supporting performances from Phyllis Somerville and Tara Westwood and a very nice cameo by Vincent Pastore of "The Sopranos," fame.See this movie either at a film festival or hopefully one day soon in theatrical release. It doesn't quite have a Hollywood ending, but it will make you think, and that's always a good thing.