Susan Granger’s review of “Cold Turkey” (FilmBuff)
In “Anna Karenina,” Leo Tolstoy wrote: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” That certainly applies to this dysfunctional assemblage who happens to be related to one another.
As Thanksgiving weekend unfolds, the eccentric Turner clan gathers at the posh Pasadena, California, home of Poppy (Peter Bogdanovich) and his second wife, Deborah (Cheryl Hines). From Poppy’s ill-fated first marriage, there are two daughters, yoga teacher Lindsay (Sonya Walger) and free-spirited Nina (Alicia Witt), and from his second, law school student Jacob (Ashley Holmes) – plus their respective partners and offspring. While Poppy perpetually sips white wine, family secrets are spilled. As it turns out, all of Poppy’s progeny tote their own emotional baggage, most of which revolves around shirking personal responsibility and asking their father for money. Meanwhile, Poppy – a dour, semi-retired foreign policy expert from Stanford who notoriously botched his overly optimistic estimation of a peaceful transition to democracy in Iraq – is coping with his own problems, which are amplified when enraged Nina stabs her stepmother Deborah with a dinner fork.
For this wannabe black comedy, writer/director Will Slocombe has assembled an experienced cast that includes writer/director Peter Bogdanovich (“The Last Picture Show”), Cheryl Hines (TV’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Sonya Walger (TV’s “Lost”) and Victoria Tennant (“L.A. Story”) as a glamorous neighbor. Too bad they find themselves saddled with a weak, unfocused script that’s filled with selfish, utterly predictable bickering that engenders little emotional involvement. The proceedings are unimaginatively photographed by Lucas Lee Graham and edited by Lauren Connelly. On the plus side, however, the upper-crust location is stunning; it’s an Architectural Digest-worthy suburban house.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Cold Turkey” is a familiar, fractured 4. It’s in limited release in theaters and available on VOD.
