Una vita in fuga

Greetings again from the darkness. Life is full of choices, however sometimes destiny takes charge and there's little we can do about it. One's parents are the most obvious and crucial example. We don't choose our parents and yet their impact on our lives is unavoidable. Jennifer Vogel's book, "Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father's Counterfeit Life", has been adapted for the screen by the FORD V FERRARI screenwriting brothers, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. The film is directed by two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn, who also co-stars.

Told through the eyes of Jennifer (played here by Sean Penn's daughter Dylan Penn, a lookalike of her mother Robin Wright), this is the "based on a true story" of John Vogel, but also the story of Jennifer, who managed to overcome challenges that stemmed from her far-from-ideal childhood. Jennifer's mother Patty (Katheryn Winnick, "Vikings") is an alcoholic and has a tumultuous marriage to John, a con man who constantly spews bombast and fabrications (aka lies) as he tries to scam the system and impress his family with his big plans (that go nowhere).

Since the film opens with a law enforcement standoff, and with Jennifer being interviewed by a Federal Marshal (Oscar winner Regina King), we know how John's saga concludes, and most of the movie is spent in Jennifer's memories to paint the picture of her dad and her life. Some of these are "flashes" of moments, while others are extended segments where we really get a feel for the father that cluttered a daughter's mind and life. It's tough to watch 105 minutes of a guy with little redeeming value.

This is not the place to detail what we see, but it's at times disturbing to see the memories of a father who doesn't so much slip in and out of the lives of Jennifer, younger brother Nick (played by Sean's son Hopper Jack Penn), and mom Patty, as he appears and vanishes in proverbial explosions akin to the Wicked Witch of the West. Given that her mom is equally inept at parenting, high school Jennifer seems destined to follow in her father's footsteps.

Covering a period from 1975 through 1992, we see Jennifer as a young kid, and then Ms. Penn takes over the role in high school. She is also our narrator, some of which is overwrought for a film that mostly strives to stay grounded in family dynamics, as Jennifer works to overcome. In addition to the previously mentioned appearance by Ms. King, there are also brief yet effective turns by Josh Brolin (as John's brother Uncle Beck), Dale Dickey (as John's crusty mother), Norbert Leo Butz (as Patty's sleazy boyfriend), and Eddie Marsan (near the film's end).

In addition to overuse of voiceover, director Penn includes a few too many song/musical interludes. Some of these songs are excellent (Cat Power, Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard), but they feel a bit heavy-handed and forced into the film. In fact, melodrama is chosen over nuance on multiple occasions, but when the film is good, it's very good. The best scenes are between father and daughter, Sean and Dylan, the latter of which shows flashes of incredible depth. We look forward to more of her work. As for Sean, can you name another actor whose natural look better exemplifies a guy who has had the snot kicked out of him by life (even if he's made his own bed)? He portrays John Vogel as a con man who believes achieving the American Dream is something he's owed, not something to earn. His love of Chopin is not enough to excuse his horrific parenting, scamming, or felonious behavior. There are various forms of freedom, and Jennifer must discover freedom from someone who has prevented you from being her true self.

Opens in select theaters on August 20, 2021.

As soon as this movie was over both my wife and I said, "I sure am glad I didn't listen to the several very negative reviews." This is a really good movie, it really is Jennifer's story, how she overcame very bad situations in her growing up, both with her father and with her mother. It is a true story and now Jennifer has a family and works as an investigative reporter and is working on her first novel.

The movie is set mostly in Minnesota (filmed in Canada) and the title is a reference to the celebration of Flag Day, with a parade and fireworks. The movie goes back and forth, at times in 1975, 1981, 1985, and 1992 mostly. It is done in a way that it is easy to keep track.

We watched it at home on DVD from our public library. I am neither a big fan of Sean Penn nor a detractor, but to me he is brilliant here as the duplicitous dad who you could never trust to be truthful. And Dylan, his daughter in real life, is really good in the role of the teenage and adult Jennifer.

Understand this is based on a true story .. but yeah boring, the film is based on the point of view of the daughter ideolizing her father. The double life that the father might have had is not explain, nor demonstrated if not at all. The Genre: Thriller attached to this movie is totally fake. It just a boring drama. The soundtrack is not elevating it either.

It would seems that the only thing that Sean Penn is doing quite well in this movie is promoting his daughter as an actress, and he does not do the same for his son, putting a fake hair on his head making sure we know he just there for show.

Just couldn't hold my interest, to the point I actually stopped 38 minutes in tobgo do laundry. Moved so slowly yet jumped around so much I couldn't develop any kind of relationship with any character. Bored.

It's fair to say that the last decade (or more if you want to be brutally honest) has not been a kind one to Sean Penn.

Discounting the collection of personal life issues that have plagued him in this time, Penn's best roles in front of the camera amount to mere cameos in the likes of Tree of Life, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and more recently a scene-stealing segment in Licorice Pizza, while his foray's behind the camera haven't amounted to much with some music videos and the much maligned The Last Face all he can lay claim to as a filmmaker.

Undoubtedly an attempt to stop the run of misfires and failures, Penn launched himself headfirst into his debut outing where he would direct himself in, while at the same time giving his daughter Dylan Penn a chance to take the spotlight as a film lead in this based on a true story tale of journalist/writer Jennifer Vogel's life growing up around serial criminal offender dad John.

Borrowing a style that could be summed up as Terrence Malick lite combined with any other rural crime based drama film from multiple eras, Flag Day feels like an instantly familiar family centered crime drama that never once feels like it's made by the same director that embedded Into the Wild with such heart and energy or The Pledge with such raw emotional power, while in an acting sense, Penn's overacting and inability to make John Vogel anything more than a caricature showcases the performers seeming inability to now be a lead actor.

It's hard to know what Penn wanted out of this story exactly, what drew him to pursue making the tale of the Vogel's into a feature film, there's nothing unique or original about what happens and certainly nothing inspiring about how the story is told in feature form and while his daughter Dylan does a decent job at bringing Jennifer to life, a child, teenager and woman that battles to understand her father that clearly loves her but doesn't do a great job of showing it, no ones coming out of such a bland tale better for the experience.

With nothing drawing everything all together and an unfocused delivery that ensures no extended segments or our main characters are allowed time too properly grow or engage us, Flag Day might not be devoid of solid moments or potential but its an effort that sums up perfectly where Sean Penn is at with his career right now, a place that feels far removed from the likes of Mystic River, I Am Sam, Into the Wild and 21 Grams.

Final Say -

Potentially there's a gripping feature that could exist when telling the story of Jennifer and John Vogel but it's not Sean Penn's newest effort behind and in front of the camera. A mostly lifeless and forgettable drama, it appears as though the best of Penn's days in the industry are long since past if Flag Day is what we're going off.

2 briefcases out of 5

For more reviews check out Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)