Ma, izzat YOU?!?

I never watched "Thirty-Something" because I was too tired to come home and watch my day all over again. This movie should make me react the same way, but it doesn't, and I'm not entirely sure why I love it so much.

First off: Opening scene and music is great.

Jodie Foster does a wonderful and fearless job of directing this movie, not downplaying the cruelty and vicious behavior often seen but seldom admitted to in families like...like...mine, for example. Here is a family that relies even on their differences as a tie that binds; intelligent, diverse, all hurting in their own ways and still reaching out for each other. Some would not believe the zaniness in these characters, or that so many insane personalities could be found in one family. Well, they're wrong. These are very real behaviors, completely unplanned and reactive.

It's a story about the family getting together for Thanksgiving. The reduction of grown and successful human adults to helpless children within two minutes of greeting their parents is beautifully played out in one simple scene: Claudia (Holly Hunter's character), picked up from the airport by her parents and imprisoned in the car, turns her head to see a full-grown man in a business suit similarly trapped in the back seat of his parents' car. He turns his head toward her and slowly rolls his eyes.

The jealousies among siblings, the memories of the not-quite-there aunt, the loneliness, the heartache of continually seeking approval from family, and the burden of caring for aging parents are brilliantly woven together in the fast-paced conversation and brief one-on-one encounters grabbed on the run.

The touching scene near the end, with Claudia having a quiet moment with her father, sums up the love they have for each other without words.

And...the thing is...AAAACK! They're all getting back together for Christmas!!

Robert Downey Jr. was beautiful, great, perfect in his role as the exuberant, irreverent, outrageous gay brother. In fact, the entire cast acted their parts so well that I would not be surprised if I walked into a house one day to see them all seated for dinner (arguing, of course).

If you have a dysfunctional family...buy it (if you can). If you have a perfectly harmonious family...you'll do better staying away; you'll feel uncomfortable.