Themes: Families in Crisis, Discovering One's Heritage, Nothing Goes Right
Main Cast: Ron Livingston, Neve Campbell, Danny DeVito, Kathy Bates, Bob Odenkirk
Release Year: 2006
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A successful psychologist with a picture-perfect family and a best-selling self-help book that's fast racking up sales hires a dogged detective to investigate his brother's claim that he was actually adopted, only to watch as his life falls to pieces in the aftermath in a dark comedy about success and family starring Danny DeVito, Kathy Bates, Ron Livingston, and Neve Campbell. Dr. Richard Clayton (Livingston) has everything a man could ever want in life: a loving fiancée (Campbell), two loving parents who are always there to support him (Edward Hermann and Christine Baranski), and a career that's on the fast track to success. When Richard's embittered brother (Bob Odenkirk) resentfully tells his sibling that he was adopted, however, the once-thriving specialist embarks on a tireless quest to locate his true birth parents. Though his dreams of finding his biological mother and father fade into a nightmare when a private investigator reveals to Richard that he was in fact conceived by crude carnies Frank and Agnes Manure (DeVito and Bates) -- who subsequently make it their mission in life to make Richard miserable -- the desperate doctor soon finds that even if he can't stand his real parents, he has learned a valuable life lesson from them. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
34 year old psychologist, Richard Clayton (Ron Livingston) parents reveal to him that he was adopted. He then sets out to find out who his biological parents are, but disaster ensues when it turns out that his parents, Frank(Danny DeVito) and Agnes Manure(Kathy Bates), are crude, lower class carnies.
