The Year of Getting to Know Us Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Year of Getting to Know Us Blu-ray Movie Review

Jimmy Fallon, dramatic actor?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 9, 2010

Saturday Night Live has done better by its actors who venture into comedy than it has for those who have deigned to prove their dramatic chops, as might be expected from a sketch variety series. In the long history of the series, probably only Bill Murray has risen to really “respected” status as a dramatic actor, and even that took him years to get to. Recently Will Ferrell has started encroaching on Murray’s territory, if very tenuously with darker turns in such films as Stranger than Fiction. It’s a little surprising, therefore, to see Jimmy Fallon making a run for the dramatic money—no matter how this film may have been marketed otherwise—in The Year of Getting to Know Us. This quirky little film is a dyspeptic dissection of a dysfunctional family, which may be one too many “dys-” and/or “dis-”es for its own good. Fallon is rather unexpectedly rich and genuine in his portrayal of Chris Rocket, a New York based 35 year old writer whose fear of commitment stems from living in a home with a philandering father (Tom Arnold) and an emotionally repressed mother (Sharon Stone), who makes completely absurd distinctions between men who have attained “vulgar” fame (cases in point: Josef Stalin and SNL’s own Chevy Chase, in one of the funnier punch lines in the film) and those who have attained “limited” fame (Enrico Fermi and Michael Caine). Mrs. Stone wants nothing more than that her son seek the “limited” variety so that his heart’s desires may find fruition.

The Year of Getting to Know Us was a Sundance selection, and its decidedly off kilter approach virtually screams “cult indie audience favorite.” The star line up is formidable, with Fallon, Stone, Arnold, Lucy Liu as Chris’ girlfriend Anne, and Illeana Douglas as the Rocket’s provocative neighbor, Mrs. Jacobsen. And while Fallon has a field day, in a completely detached way per the Chris’ character, with bringing a soon to be middle aged man’s parental demons to light, the rest of the cast, while perfectly wonderful in their own way, often struggles with material that wants to sum up lifetimes of bad decisions in banal chit chat over dairy free dinners.

Stone, who also Executive Produced, is here squarely relegated to supporting status, in what may have been seen by the actress as a good shot at a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. The film ping pongs back and forth in time, dealing with Chris’ childhood memories of his elegant mother and her kooky soothsaying about varieties of fame, a bulwark against his dunderheaded father’s boorish behavior, and current day events, after Mr. Rocket has suffered a debilitating stroke while on the golf course, his favorite place to be when he isn’t dallying with a neighbor woman. We therefore get Stone (and Arnold) in two distinctly different timeframes, though, aside from the couple having separated, it’s hard to see any difference in their behavior. But perhaps that’s part of the point. It’s never stated outright, but the “old”, present day Stone character looks badly mottled (as in badly mottled), so perhaps we’re supposed to guess she’s suffering from some kind of disease, another surefire Oscar vote getter. Or not, in this instance.

It would be easy to jokingly say that Arnold, who is confined throughout most of the present day footage to a comatose state on a hospital bed, does his finest work ever in this film. But he actually does bring some panache to his portrayal of the younger Mr. Rocket, a man who resolutely refuses to connect with either his wife or his young son, and in fact cautions young Chris that, despite Chris’ mother’s protestations that the family need to get to know each other better, it doesn’t matter, because one day, Chris will “be” his father. That of course is the crux of Chris’ dilemma as he is caught in a quandary as to how to proceed with his relationship with Anne, something brought home, literally and figuratively, after he returns to Florida to be by his estranged father’s bedside.

There’s a slight whiff of the smarmy surrounding much of The Year of Getting to Know Us, and that works squarely against Fallon’s nice guy, down to earth sensibility. He’s working early Dustin Hoffman territory here, blending pathos with flashes of humor, but the film never lets him shine the way Hoffman did in, say, The Graduate. When Fallon finally erupts toward the end of the film in a fit of pique, it seems strangely unmotivated and not in keeping with the emotional tenor of the rest of the film. A silly denouement and false ending sets up a haltingly touching finale, but the film never really achieves much traction, perhaps due to its bouncing back and forth between timeframes.

Still and all, Fallon proves he has the makings of a solid dramatic actor with this film, and Stone, though working perhaps a bit too hard here, also manages to cut through the clichés of the screenplay and deliver a touching portrayal of a woman in not quite denial. Liu is unfortunately mostly wasted in a throwaway role and her supposed cathartic scene is just a bit cringe inducing.

The holidays tend to bring families, dysfunctional and otherwise (is there an otherwise?), together and that often reopens old wounds. There’s probably no one alive that hasn’t wondered what’s going on with their particular family dynamics, at least now and again. The Year of Getting to Know Us never really provides us enough information to glean much real knowledge, but in dribs and drabs it serves up some nice moments for some individual actors, and Fallon may be rejoicing in his ability to avoid “vulgar” fame, insisting to his SNL predecessor, “You’re Chevy Chase, and I’m not.”

The Year of Getting to Know Us Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Year of Getting to Know Us was obviously filmed on a relatively modest budget, and this AVC encoded Blu-ray in 1080p and 1.78:1 can only do so much with the source elements. This is a pretty soft looking Blu-ray, with an all around fuzziness in both exterior and interior shots. A lot of the interior shots suffer from low contrast, and blacks therefore crush at times and everything looks just slightly murky. It actually works well for the film's kind of dank emotional content, but don't come to this film expecting razor sharp imagery. Some of the exterior Florida shots are nicely colorful, with a well saturated palette, but on more than one occasion the background foliage dissolves into digital noise territory. On the other hand, some of the close-ups are wonderfully sharp and reveal a great level of fine detail. In one extreme close-up of Fallon's face, you can clearly see a tear beginning to form in his eye.

The Year of Getting to Know Us Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While The Year of Getting to Know Us does offer a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, there's really not much the film provides in terms of hugely immersive moments. This is, after all, a quieter, dialogue driven film, and as such, the track does its job professionally, but without much fanfare. There is some nice discrete channelization. In the flashback dinner scenes, the three Rocket family members are perfectly placed directionally around the soundfield, mirroring their locations at the dining table. Some of the golf scenes provide some nice ambient environmental noise as well as quick pans as golf balls "whoosh" to their locations. And the climactic scene when Chris loses it and begins smashing up his parents' home does have some nicely robust effects which spill into the surrounds. Otherwise, this is small scale fare, excellent as far as it goes, but that isn't very far.

The Year of Getting to Know Us Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Other than the trailer, the only supplement on the disc is a Press Conference (SD; 49:28) with Fallon, Stone, Arnold, Douglas and director Patrick Sisam.

The Year of Getting to Know Us Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Year of Getting to Know Us is a hit or miss affair. It features some fine performances, but the film never really goes anywhere and fails to build up to much of a climax. It's fun to see Fallon attempt a semi-dramatic role, and he does quite well by it, and Stone also turns in a nice performance. But whether or not you will get enough of a kick out of seeing this slate of actors may depend on how much baggage you carry around with regard to your own family history.