It Runs in the Family

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Jesse Wigutow's screenplay is one of those marvels of economy, idiomatic facility and well-chosen detail that knows exactly when to cut away from a scene without grinding it into your face.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Never quite transcends its movie-of-the-week trappings. But either you're glad to have spent time with these three generations or you aren't. Bottom line: I was.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Schepisi not only inspired the cast to give well-shaded, reflective portrayals but also made the film a work of honest, heartfelt sentiment.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Much to my surprise and delight, the movie is nothing like its marketing.

Variety Robert Koehler

Uneasily pivots between comedy and drama, with its best parts strongly reminiscent of Schepisi's previous, British-made drama about aging and dying buddies, "Last Orders."

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Manages to sidestep the potential overload of cheap sentimentality -- an intimate dance between an elderly couple registers with heartbreaking sweetness -- and evokes a lingering sense of loss.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It's so wispy that at the end you wonder: Exactly what runs in the family?

USA Today Claudia Puig

Father and son Kirk and Michael Douglas' moments together are among the movie's best.

Village Voice Ed Park

Family goes easy on the schmaltz, and the catastrophes have the puncturing feel of real life.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The picture never quite finds its footing.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

An unsteady mixture of treacle and dark comedy that never feels as "dark" as it pretends. Though well-intentioned, it's not terribly compelling.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

This is one family reunion where you need someone to act up or pick a fight, anything to bring a little life to the party.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is simply not clear about where it wants to go and what it wants to do. It is heavy on episode and light on insight, and although it takes courage to bring up touchy topics it would have taken more to treat them frankly.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Essentially the same heartwarming goo about three generations of men quarreling and bonding, with Kirk just as feisty as ever.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It's ''Hannah and Her Sisters'' with all the emotions and half the artistry.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Sluggish comedy drama.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

As an actor, Kirk Douglas still has more to give; too bad he didn't have more to work with.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The best reason to see It Runs in the Family is the sight of unquenchable Kirk.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The question is not how bad this excuse for a domestic comedy is (medium cringe), but how the gifted Fred Schepisi got suckered into directing a vanity project.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

To an outsider, it's pretty thin stuff.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

Schepisi underscores each emotional note by pulling the camera away from his actors and pointing it at family photographs, a saccharine conceit that becomes more irritating each time it appears.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Every scene in this oppressive film has a theme or didactic purpose, but little life.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Schmaltzy.

New York Daily News Staff (Not Credited)

The family's all here and surely, with all their accumulated years of wisdom, they should have been able to distinguish a cloying script when one fell into their hands.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

An exercise in drudgery... The whole thing is so patently uninteresting it's hard to see it as anything but a Douglas family vanity project.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A sodden drama of filial conflict that dares the audience to confuse the characters with the players. P.T. Barnum couldn't have come up with a better hook, but he would have rewarded his suckers with more ''On Golden Pond'' entertainment bang for their buck.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Fred Schepisi, the great Australian director, had the thankless task of trying to turn Jesse Wigutow’s screenplay into something with a pulse, but his finesse is wasted on this steaming heap of dysfunctionalism.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Achingly long and pointless, "Runs" is a movie about family that's dishonest in its presentation of every relationship.