There was a time when one would head to the theater and watch a family dramedy that starred an all-star cast. They would play an eclectic group of people that were somehow related by blood or connected through marriage. They would gather for a special occasion, usually a holiday or the sudden passing of a loved one. Secrets would be revealed. Old wounds healed. Lots of laughter. Lots of tears. Well, that particular brand of dramedy wasn’t stopped by the pandemic and is back with a vengeance with Family Squares — now with Zoom.

Directed by Stephanie Laing from a screenplay by Laing and Brad Morris, Family Squares sees June Squibb playing Worth Family matriarch Mabel. The family has been somewhat estranged for a number of years, but they gather via Zoom after Grandma Mabel passes away. Naturally, chaos ensues. The family consists of Ann Dowd, Henry Winkler, Margo Martindale, Casey Wilson, Judy Greer, Timothy Simons, Scott McArthur, and Elsie Fisher. While gathered for a final goodbye to Mabel, the family descends into madness when long-buried family secrets are revealed. The moral of the story is that, while one cannot choose their family — at least not blood relatives — one can choose to be friends with them.

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Family Squares Review

The ensemble cast is, in a word, wild. This film is 90 minutes long and suffers under the crushing weight of this uniquely gifted and expansive group. With little time to flesh out the character arcs and follow certain subplots, the cast is tasked with the inevitable job of breathing some semblance of life into their characters. Some actors manage to draw from the collective experiences from living through an ongoing pandemic by feeling very relatable. Others feel like they are at a virtual table read, just saying their lines. The cast is perhaps three people too many and honestly could have featured just the women.

Judy Greer’s particular brand of stressed is precisely the energy needed for this story and is something only she can articulate without exhausting the audience. Casey Wilson is pitch-perfect in the shtick she has perfected over the years. Ann Dowd and Margo Martindale are giants in the film industry, highly respected actresses who have proven to be amongst the best of the best, but they are somewhat undercut by the setup in Family Squares. In any case, the women of the ensemble are perhaps the most interesting and are the source of the biggest laughs and the hardest cries.

family squares review

Family Squares isn’t the first film to showcase filmmakers pivoting to tell stories set during the pandemic. However, the film doesn’t land in the way it was perhaps intended. While there may be one too many cast members, it goes a little beyond that. While not lacking in sincerity, the film just doesn’t balance all that it attempts to tackle and also lacks a clear driving theme. The drama feels too contrived and the comedy forced. A film like Language Lessons, which is also follows a Zoom format, benefits from a tight cast of two and allows for the relationship between the characters, the drama, and the natural comedy to emerge  organically. Family Squares lacks that organic feel; it's more of a dramatized imitation of a large, dysfunctional family.

Family Squares sports an impressive cast, and the epic pairing of Ann Dowd and Margo Martindale, but it cannot quite live up to its potential. The film is not without its moments of joy and emotion, but with a short enough run time, it shouldn't feel like it is straining to keep the audience's attention. As a film birthed from the pandemic, the presentation already feels outdated. There is an attempt to revitalize the format, but it falls flat. All in all, the family dramedy has all the right pieces, but, like any dysfunctional family, they don’t come together in the most cohesive of ways.

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Family Squares releases in theaters and on-demand Friday, February 25. The film is 90 minutes long and rated R for language.