One of my all time favorites.

Fantastic!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Parental abandonment is something that many people deal with. Some never reconcile it, choosing to ignore it. But the fact is that abandonment early in life can leave scars that affect you for the rest of your life. Pretending not to notice or shrugging it off can seem like it works for a while, but as one ages, the gravity of the experience begins to take form. This film will most likely bring to light some of the circumstances surrounding a viewer's own similar situation.For me, it was realizing how the lack of a father has affected how I view relationships and as a result, my own choices. Young girls learn about male energy and how it can be beneficial from their fathers. My father abandoned me very early in life, surfacing only a few times, one of which was when he was in ill health. Fortunately for me, I was not faced with the situation that Nick was - my father had the means to live on his own. I also had a stepfather who never recognized me even as a family member. When he wasn't ridiculing me he was just ignoring me. Thankfully, my mother was a very strong presence in my life. But she was gone well before her time as well. Nick's mother committed suicide -- and there are many other more subtle ways to do this. Like ignoring your own health and well being and allowing yourself to become so ill that it is too late to repair it.It seemed early on that Nick decided to be a writer because his father considered himself to be one. That, along with providing much inspiration by way of their own story - is another contribution to Nick's life that I'm sure he has acknowledged. The one thing that Nick's father did was validate his writing. For a writer, that can mean more than just about anything.

When we watch and review films, we often critic the movie in relation to the actors, director and the story. Yet this movie has so much more to offer.Homelessness is not an easy subject matter to approach. Nor the people who end up working in these places. It is a theme we rarely question or consider. In most large cities, we brush past homeless people waiting for others to care for them.The foundation of this movie is about a father/son relationship. But it is also about the hopes, dreams, aspirations we all start out having in life. It is about how we lose our way, how we pick up the pieces and fill in the gaps.It is about the questions we ask ourselves, the answers we come up and what we do when some of those answers begin the make sense. It is about the coincidences that shape our life, from where we can jump off to a firmer footing.This is an incredible movie. Although the immediate beginning is a little disjointed, once it begins to find its stride, WOW! it develops to take on so much more.There are no emotional highs and lows, resulting in a happy ending. This movie is simply a skim through the chapters of the character's lives. And whereas the ending does see the characters settle into their lives providing comfort to the viewers, we should not forget that many homeless people or young men and women who struggle to find their way in life are not always so lucky.

If you're looking for a light drama or comedy, don't choose Being Flynn. But if you want to see the masterful acting of Robert DeNiro and Paul Dano, and you're up for serious subject matter, this is an outstanding film. The script does not sugar-coat any aspects of addiction or homelessness. It tells it like it is. The key characters are multi-dimensional, and I found myself rooting for them at times and wanting to kick their butts at other times. Besides the obvious subject matter of addiction and homelessness, the film also address the challenges we all have dealing with whether we are or are not our parents -- or at least looking at parts of ourselves we don't like that we also don't like in our parents. And the feelings of guilt and shame experience by Nick over the death of his mother are palpable. The only thing I found disconcerting was that fact that it was supposed to be set in Boston and, with the exception of one recognizable Boston location, it was so obviously filmed in New York.

Again, I find it a challenge to write a review after reading the one by David Ferguson (ferguson-6); don't want to copy another reviewer. Read his review, hopefully after mine. I agree with David about the non traditional Hollywood ending. I also did not have the pleasure of reading the book by Nick Flynn and I don't plan to; I've had enough of the movie's realism to quench that thirst. The performances by De Niro and Dano are captivatingly dark, gripping and absolutely discomforting, when they are the most believable. You must understand the storyline before considering watching the movie.It's hard to tell if De Niro is overplaying the character or if the real Flynn was that bad of a drunk; either way that makes the veteran of the screen's performance a memorable one. I tend to believe the performance of Robert De Niro here, and like to think he does portray what Jonathan Flynn must have been like, as it feels too real not to be. Anyone who's known a problematic alcoholic knows the De Niro's role was very demanding. I have a soft spot for movies with narration and the one delivered by Paul Dano, playing Nick Flynn to perfection, was both well done and required, in the context of the story.The ending, after a roller coaster ride of the life of an author with unyielding self confidence, was guaranteed to bring a sigh of relief and it won't surprise me a bit if you exclaim 'son of a bit**' as I did. If I was an actor, I'd want to have played a part in this movie. It's not for everyone, but I recommend it for movie-lovers who crave intense performances now and then.