Dysfunctional families are all the rage on television and in movies. With his first film, writer/director Bart Freundlich sits a dysfunctional New England family down together for a Thanksgiving — or in this case, "angst-giving" — dinner.
Unfortunately, Freundlich's way of looking at the family's deep-rooted problems is too clinical, and both his direction and script treat the dramatic situations in an almost detached manner, which robs this downbeat drama of some needed emotional vitality.
He also makes the mistake of centering on three characters — Hal (Roy Scheider), the cold and emotionally unresponsive family patriarch; Warren (Noah Wyle, from TV's "ER"), his whiny younger son; and Mia (Julianne Moore), his embittered eldest daughter — who are so self-involved that it's almost impossible to sympathize with them.
For example, the movie's major character conflict is between Warren and Hal, who chased off Warren's ex-girlfriend, Daphne (Arija Bareikis), when he made a drunken pass at her during a party. Hal has also negatively influenced his oldest son, Jake (Michael Vartan), who is unable to commit in his relationship with his vivacious girlfriend, Margaret (Hope Davis).
Lack of parental affection seems to have influenced Mia as well. Not only has she become hostile to the world around her, she has begun an affair with an oddball former childhood friend (James LeGros) — unbeknownst to her sensitive psychologist husband, Elliot (Brian Kerwin).
With such a volatile atmosphere, things are bound to come to a head, and they do, at last, when the family actually sits down for the traditional holiday feast.
It's fortunate that Freundlich has such a talented cast (even Moore and Scheider do well playing people who are basically unlikeable), or the whole thing would collapse much earlier on than it does. There are too many characters for all of them to get fair treatment, and as mentioned, the ones who get the most screen time are also the least interesting.
More compelling by far are the film's supporting characters, especially Margaret; Leigh (Laurel Holloman), the flighty and flirtatious youngest daughter; and Lena (Blythe Danner), the family matriarch and stabilizing force. Of course, they're not given all that much to do. For that matter, neither are Vartan and Kerwin, who come off as character sketches rather than fully developed ones.
That's not to say that the film is horrible. It does score a few more sincerity and honesty points than "Soul Food," another similarly themed drama. More humor would have helped, too, since everything is treated with deadly earnestness.
"The Myth of Fingerprints" is rated R for profanity, sex and one scene of brief drug use.