'THE FAMILY FANG': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A dark comedy-drama flick, about the two adult children of a very controversial 'conceptual performance art' couple. The siblings blame their mother and father for all of their current problems in life; and when their parents go missing, the sister is sure it's just another disturbing art project. The film was directed by Jason Bateman, who also co-stars in it, and it was written by David Lindsay-Abaire. It's based on the 2011 novel, of the same name, by Kevin Wilson. The movie also co-stars Nicole Kidman (who co-produced the flick too),Christopher Walken, Maryann Plunkett, Kathryn Hahn (who also costarred in 'BAD WORDS'; which Bateman also directed and starred in) and Jason Butler Harner. I enjoyed the film immensely.

Baxter and Annie Fang (Bateman and Kidman) had a very bizarre, and highly unconventional, upbringing. Their parents are world famous 'conceptual performance artists', named Caleb and Camille Fang (Walken and Plunkett),and they incorporated Baxter and Annie into most of their projects (when they were young). The siblings have had a lot of issues, as adults, because of it. When their mother and father go missing, and are presumed dead by authorities, Annie becomes obsessed with proving it's another art trick.

I really like the story for this movie; it poses a lot of great questions about what makes great art. I'm a big fan of performance art (I experience with it a lot on social media),so this film is very interesting to me. I agree with Christopher Walken's character, on his opinions about art, but I think he took it too far, by involving his kids (I can see how that could do a lot of psychological damage to them). The movie is also a great character study, and the performances are all excellent too. Bateman also proves, once again, what a talented director he is, as well (I'm also a big fan of 'BAD WORDS'). It's definitely a film worth seeing!

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Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman grew up as the children of Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett, a pair of performance artists who incorporated them, as children, in their disruptive pieces as "Child A" and "Child B". When they grew up, they moved onto more normal forms of art, Miss Kidman as an actress and Bateman a novelist. Now they're visiting their parents, who want to incorporate them in their latest piece, but they refuse, and when their latest effort fails, Walken reacts badly.the parents go on a vacation, but disappear on a stretch of road where a serial killer operates; Miss Kidman thinks this is another piece of art, but Bateman contemplates the possibility they are dead.

It's a joyless contemplation on the meaning of art carried on the abilities of its leads. Walken dominates through sarcasm and anger, belittling Kidman's roles; Miss Plunkett hides her paintings from him; Miss Kidman struggles with addictions and a fading career; Bateman may have injured himself -- he begins the movie in the hospital and wears bandages throughout most of the movie. He also roughs out a story in which he and his sister are orphans and sent to a cruel orphanage. Clearly the obsessiveness of art has its human costs!

Annie Fang (Nicole Kidman) is struggling in her acting career and pushed into a topless scene. Her brother Baxter (Jason Bateman) is struggling with his award-winning writing and his idiot friends hit him with a potato gun. He convinces her to visit their parents (Christopher Walken, Maryann Plunkett). As young kids, their artistic parents (Jason Butler Harner, Kathryn Hahn) would perform surprise pranks on the public with them. Suddenly, their parents go missing and the siblings go in search for them.

The present-day scenes have some big names but I kept wondering if the movie would function better as a coming-of-age story with the kids and two outrageous parents. It's not that the present-day doesn't work. Kidman is wondrous. It's just that the flashbacks represent better potential. Of course, it would be a more standard movie. Going missing presents some additional interesting possibilities but the best resolution may be them actually being dead.