WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? [PG-13]
review by Robin Clifford

Blake Morrison (Colin Firth) has had a love-hate relationship with his father, Arthur (Jim Broadbent), since he was a child. Now, his general practitioner dad has become a patient himself, diagnosed as terminally ill with cancer. Blake remembers his father, his flaws, foibles, indiscretions and browbeating as he comes to terms with the man who influenced him, good or bad.

This mixed bag film has several quality elements and one major problem, and that problem is Colin Firth (Mamma Mia!). As the older Blake, he is a blank cipher who has little expression and looks as if he is distressed, almost constipated. Firth is usually likable as an actor, so the script and director must take some responsibility for his misstep here; Firth’s Blake is central to the film so the lack of personality or character is too noticeable.

Better, though, is Matthew Beard as Blake as a teenager at a time when he is in conflict with Arthur ­ who, not so affectionately, is in the habit of calling his son “fat head,” regardless of whether or not others are around to hear the insult. Arthur’s disappointment in Blake is obvious when his son decides to follow a career as a writer, eschewing his parents’ life as physicians. This difference of career choice becomes a barrier and frequent point of contention between father and son, one that Blake will struggle with when his dad is diagnosed with incurable cancer.

The cast is first-rate with Broadbent getting the focus of my attention as he forms a fully dimensioned character, like him or not, as Arthur. First-timer to the big screen Matthew Beard gives an excellent performance as the middle Blake. The rest of the cast do fine, though Juliet Stevenson has the thankless job as the loyal, cuckolded wife. Firth could have been much better and again, seems hampered.

Adapted for the screen by David Nicholls (Starter For 10) from Morrison’s best-selling memoirs, director Anand Tucker (Shopgirl) spans decades with a brilliantly played character study by Jim Broadbent. Arthur is a man of many layers, some good, some not-so-good, who awed and embarrassed his young son, Blake (Bradley Johnson), with his wheeling and dealing for things he doesn’t deserve and dedication to his patients. This changes to discord when Blake grows up and begins to make his own decisions in life, decisions contrary to Arthur’s feelings and desires for his son. The flashbacks to the teenage Blake versus Arthur conflict, with mother Kim (Stevenson) as a pawn in the fight, are the most compelling in the flawed but watchable film.•••

Robin Clifford and his wife Laura have produced the cable TV show “Reeling” on Malden Public Access since 1991.