EVERYBODY’S FINE

Trudging through Italy with his grown-up sons and daughters, elder pensioner Matteo Scuro is desperately looking for a place to settle down with his family. Acting as if EVERYBODY’S FINE, the family wants their Papa to be happy. However, predictably, they’re not doing as well as Papa Scuro has been led to believe, and themes of changing times, immoral attitudes and lifestyles are presented through the lives of the Scuro children.

Living in her boyfriend’s house, Scuro’s daughter (an underwear model and mother of an illegitimate child) tells Papa the house they live in is her own. Her oldest brother, Matteo, is a speech writer for a not-so-important politician. Another brother plays the bass drum in a traveling orchestra. From him, Scuro finds out that his other son is not missing but has committed suicide.

Viewing his circumstances through a lens of past experience, Papa Scuro sees his world become increasingly westernized. Vivid examples include the cold buzz of the answering machine, a baby kept occupied by a TV and eating a burger at Italian McDonalds.

EVERYBODY’S FINE is an unmistakably Italian movie that reinforces its culture and traditions. A competent supporting cast, however, wastes their time in this hollow, lukewarm “tragicomedy” that occasionally arouses our emotions.

Lovers of Italian films may find EVERYBODY’S FINE worth seeing, but be prepared for an ill-constructed plot with adult situations, female nudity and obscenities.

Realistically, everything can’t be fine without Christ. Papa Scuro should have taken heed of the Proverbs 22:6 admonition to “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” If only Papa Scuro would give his life to Christ, his existence would be meaningful, pointing to a destination in heaven.