Given the premise, the story that screams to be told here - a serial womanizer who never took an ounce of responsibility in his life suddenly loses everything and is faced with the challenge of raising a girl, who is a total stranger to him, in a foreign country, with no means at hand - is sadly left untold. Instead, the movie opts for introducing a wealthy, bearded plot device called Bernie, and we skip the first eight years of little Glorias upbringing in a colourful montage.
What we get after that is a strange and tiresome cocktail, the base of which consists in a version of the worn-out 'liar revealed'-story, needless and lazily motivated ("I'm only lying because I want to make you happy"). Embedded in this are scenes reminding us of the impossibly ideal, always cheerful friendship between father and daughter, alternating with half-hearted attempts at drama, both elements effectively nullifying each others' effects. The outcome is a confusing movie that doesn't know its own identity.
I could have perhaps forgiven it its flaws and watched it as a lighthearted comedy with some family drama components, if all the commotions in the second act would have simply been put to rest in the third, and that would have been the end of it. But, consistent with the movie's main issue, in the very last scene, a formerly entirely irrelevant subplot reemerges to – assisted by a whimsical, reflective montage of our family, once again united, frolicking in the sea and laughing into the camera – scream "tragicomedy" in our faces.
One thing to hold in its favour are the performances of the two main actors. Sadly, the development of their characters is utterly neglected, not allowing the actors to really show what they can do.
What we get after that is a strange and tiresome cocktail, the base of which consists in a version of the worn-out 'liar revealed'-story, needless and lazily motivated ("I'm only lying because I want to make you happy"). Embedded in this are scenes reminding us of the impossibly ideal, always cheerful friendship between father and daughter, alternating with half-hearted attempts at drama, both elements effectively nullifying each others' effects. The outcome is a confusing movie that doesn't know its own identity.
I could have perhaps forgiven it its flaws and watched it as a lighthearted comedy with some family drama components, if all the commotions in the second act would have simply been put to rest in the third, and that would have been the end of it. But, consistent with the movie's main issue, in the very last scene, a formerly entirely irrelevant subplot reemerges to – assisted by a whimsical, reflective montage of our family, once again united, frolicking in the sea and laughing into the camera – scream "tragicomedy" in our faces.
One thing to hold in its favour are the performances of the two main actors. Sadly, the development of their characters is utterly neglected, not allowing the actors to really show what they can do.