FLAG DAY – Review

With Labor Day less than a couple of weeks away, it’s only natural that the studios would release a family flick around a holiday, though not this particular one. No, it’s from a couple of months ago, though the exact date differs in other countries. Ah, but that word “family” is the constant, and not in the overused “blanket” term mumbled by the cast of F9. No, this is for real, an autobiographical “coming of age” drama that rips away the hazy nostalgia that obscures the truth about growing up with a parent, who, despite all odds, refuses to grow up. That’s the case of this tale’s heroine, whose ner do well daddy proudly proclaimed that he was born on FLAG DAY.

The film begins very near the end of the story’s main relationship. Law-enforcement officers “saddle up” in the mid-1990s during a wild highway pursuit. Just as they surround a speeding SUV, we’re taken to a conversation between a US marshall and twenty-something Jennifer Vogel (Dylan Penn), who learns of her father’s skill as a counterfeiter. Her mind then drifts back to hazy mid-seventies Summer days as she, along with kid brother Nick and mother Patty (Katheryn Winnick), are awaiting a brief visit from father John Vogel (Sean Penn). After a short interlude filled with horseplay and laughter, Papa John would be on the move. Eventually, they became a complete family again, but violent arguments (usually about money) split the parents up. But since Mom wasn’t the “fun one”, the kids wanted to be with their daddy “full time”. But after a few months, John sent them back to his ex as he evaded the law (yet another of his houses burned down), creditors (including some “leg-breaker” outlaw-types), and heartsick girlfriends. Soon Mama remarried, but after stepdad got too “handsy”, teenage Jennifer ran away to rejoin her father, who bragged of his business prospects. When she learns of his real job as a groundskeeper at a tiny airport, the two split (after John’s arrest for an inept bank hold-up). Jennifer reunites with Mom and Nick before becoming a journalism student at a Minnesota college. Her investigating skills land her a job reporting for the local free newspaper (some call it a “hippie rag”). Then Daddy shows up, out of the blue. He boasts of his ownership of a small print shop. As usual, Jennifer learns the hard way, that “Papa John” just can’t tell the truth, or keep on the “straight and narrow”.

The film’s strength is definitely in the real-life father-daughter dynamic of the two leads. Though she’s only had roles on TV and film, Dylan Penn has a compelling star charisma as the camera adoringly frames her (she is a stunning beauty). Ms. Penn convincingly ages from 16 to nearly 30, while handling drastic changes in makeup (a punk/goth style in high school) and fashions (that Lois Lane reporter-look). Her Jennifer also changes emotionally from vulnerable, but tough-talking teen to probing, smart investigator (though a “gotcha” interview feels clunky). Ms. Penn also works well with the rest of the cast, but her best moments are with her “old man”, the two-time Oscar winner. We’ve seen a bit of the twitchy “hustler’ character in some of Sean Penn’s earlier roles (THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN and CARLITO’S WAY spring to mind), but there’s a much darker tragic edge to John Vogel. We see the twinkle in his eyes as he relates to his kids by going to their level, whether he’s helping little Jennifer “drive” or as he gleefully takes an “aqua-car” into the lake on his birthday/holiday. But then that spark is dimmed as we see the “gears working’ as Vogel must come up with a new set of lies and excuses when he’s cornered. Penn still projects some charm as we see how pathetic John’s spiraling life has lead him (he actually believes his B.S.). Winnick is terrific as the frustrated matriarch who struggles to keep her family together while ignoring the pleas for help from her siblings. Mr. Penn has also lined up several acting vets for small supporting roles. Josh Brolin is solid as the understanding but stern Uncle Beck. Eddie Marsan is slick and sinister as he tries to intimidate the inquisitive Jennifer. And Norbert Leo Butz oozes evil as the slimy, creepy stepfather.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Mr. Penn is doing “double duty” as the film’s director (he’s made several features, but hasn’t cast himself till now). He does a very good job of capturing the hazy golden glow of childhood memory in the story’s early sequences, expertly evoking the feels of the still wild and wooly seventies. Ultimately his work is undone by the meandering, often unfocused script by Jez Butterworth whose screenplay adapts Ms. Vogel’s memoir. The plot’s construction, beginning with the tragic conclusion, dilutes some of the story’s surprises. And at times, this film doesn’t know if it wants to be Jennifer’s story or the saga of John. The end result lurches between the somewhat cliche struggles of Ms. V and the funny, but very sad adventures of Mr. V. That whole idea that living with an impish Peter Pan “man-child’ is hammered home with a numbing frequency. And in repeating this, some of the characters are given short shrift with brother Nick almost an afterthought in many sequences. Despite the strong work of the Penns, this father/daughter fable never soars. It’s one FLAG DAY just fails to inspire. And certainly not worthy of celebration.

2.5 Out of 4

FLAG DAY opens in theatres everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas on August 27, 2021