The movie, Poundcake, was billed as a comedy, but it's much, much deeper than that. It's a look into 48 hours of a family's life and understanding a lot of the baggage the family members have carried with them throughout the years of their life. The movie takes pace in 1987 Buffalo, New York, and is filled with all the appropriate music, decor, and trappings of 80s life.
It's the night before Thanksgiving, and the Morgan family are eating at the Golden Buddha as part of their traditional family Thanksgiving celebration. Carol and Cliff Morgan announce that after 30-plus years of marriage, they are getting a divorce.
Their three grown children, Robby, Charles, and Brooke, are stunned, and react accordingly.
"This is what you brought us here for?" demands Brooke. "To tell us you're getting a divorce?"
Cliff has also been let go from his job at the AM&A, which he reminds his kids was the other reason they brought them.
The comedy of Poundcake comes not from stupid jokes or being clever. It's from situations many families have seen themselves in: fathers who can't share their emotions, brothers who can't get along and fight every chance they get, an older brother who's in love with his younger adopted sister.
Okay, we don't see that one so much, but it's a part of this movie.
The kids are all in their 20s, are immersed in their own lives, trying to find their own way in the world. Robby wanted to be a rocker, and is an overnight DJ at a rock-and-roll radio station, Chuck still lives at home, and is trying to create an exercise video, while Brooke is an administrative assistant for a one-armed real estate agent who can charitably be described as an asshole.
The three are thrown back together with the news of the breakup of their family, but are held together as their parents try to make this last family holiday a happy one.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Robby learns that he is in love with his sister, who is adopted. Brooke learns that her mother is more human than she believed, and Chuck learns that, at 25 years old, he needs to finally grow up and quit pursuing his half-baked ideas. With some bad advice from his son, and a clearly uncomfortable moment in expressing himself, Cliff Morgan takes the plunge and learnes he sometimes needs to tell his wife how he feels.
I loved the casting in this movie, and the two brothers Charles and Robby (Kevin Logie and Troy Hall) were also the writers and producers of the movie. Kathleen Quinlan and Jay Sanders are immediately recognizable to anyone who has watched TV or movies in the past year, and did an excellent job playing 50-something parents who realize they have been roommates more than they've been spouses.
Funny in the best parts, dramatic and awkward in others, I loved Poundcake, and recommend it to anyone looking for a solid movie.
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