Life in suburban Serenity, Ohio is never quite as serene as it appears. An unusual accident leaves an Ohio woman (Hope Davis) with amnesia, leading to a second chance at happiness for herself and her family.
Friedman's inability to successfully reconcile the film's duality undercuts an eclectic cast gamely committed to Mark Lisson's thematically ambitious, if scattered, script.
Davis could play a role like Bunnie in her sleep, Mulroney often seems to be asleep and the rest of the overqualified supporting cast just appears relieved that their screentime is limited.
Reel Film Reviews
November 23, 2011
...a misguided and thoroughly obnoxious piece of work that wears out its welcome almost immediately.
The Family Tree is never willing to try and really understand its family, instead creating wall of surface-level quirks as shorthand for their personalities.
The only reason I can think of to watch Vivi Friedman's flat, satirical farce "The Family Tree" - and it's not a good enough reason - is the opportunity to play a game of spot the semi-star.
Village Voice
August 23, 2011
[It makes] a small case for not succumbing to nostalgic malaise -- too bad it's in a genre as played-out as [the] lead characters' passion.
So in the end what we are presented with is a mildly affable comedy of familial dysfunction that wants to chide the times for being both morally and emotionally obtuse. Instead, The Family Tree winds up being little more than a film uprooted.
