Dysfunction overwhelms ‘We Are Family’ - Movie Review
September 24, 2010
Starring Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal
A broken family, a dying mom, cute kids, and buckets of tears—you’d think a remake of the American film Stepmom (1998), starring Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts, and Ed Harris, would be right in the wheelhouse of filmmaker Karan Johar. But not so.
Johar’s known for making wonderfully maudlin films about family, and his movies are usually set in the West. In addition to directing his own films, he frequently produces the films of debutant directors—as was the case with We Are Family—and his influence on his fledglings is always abundantly evident.
We Are Family is set in Sydney, Australia, but the location has no relevance to the story, and the Western locale makes it even more similar to the original than it already it is. In fact, it’s close to being an exact copy—so what's the point of doing a remake? And where it diverges is disastrous. Worst of all, the emotion you expect in a Johar film is missing. The characters’ actions are perfunctory, not heartfelt. And even though everyone here is supposed to be so noble—with all their sacrifices for others—their behavior is shockingly irresponsible, especially because there are kids involved. While the characters in Stepmom are forgivably flawed, the ones in We Are Family are thoughtlessly selfish.
For starters, the father, Aman (Arjun Rampal), makes the insensitive decision to introduce his girlfriend Shreya (Kareena Kapoor) to his three children, with no warning to them, at his young daughter’s birthday party, thereby ruining it. Then, he saddles Shreya with looking after the kids when they barely know her. When his ex-wife Maya (Kajol) tells Aman she has cancer, he dumps Shreya, without telling her why, and moves back in with Maya, without telling their children why—cruelly leading them to believe their parents have reunited as a couple. When they finally come clean with the kids, Aman promises them that Maya won’t die, even though the doctors say otherwise. Shreya re-enters their lives when Maya realizes she would be a good replacement for her after she’s gone, and Shreya bribes the kids into liking her with toys, sweets, and privileges.
The gender dynamics here are completely reactionary. While children are, of course, better off with a mother than without, these kids do have a father and the pervading assumption throughout the film that he can’t possibly take care of his own kids without the help of a woman is insulting. Not that Aman cares—he’s firmly entrenched in his retro-role of domestically useless male. Even though Maya is dying and he moves into her home ostensibly to take care of her, she continues to handle all the chores and child-rearing. Aman doesn’t lift a finger around the house, except to hand her a glass of water to wash down her pills.
That scene, however, is the film’s best moment. On Aman’s first night back, Maya gets into bed and arranges the pillow next her, unsure if Aman will be joining her there—and she’s somewhat both apprehensive and hopeful. When he comes to her side and gives her the medication, she grabs his hand—in gratitude for his return and also, perhaps, in tentative invitation. He squeezes back, perceiving as only a spouse can, but lets go. The painful ambiguity lingers long after the scene is over.
Where Aman ends up sleeping is never shown, even after Shreya moves into their home for parenting boot camp, with Maya as the impossible-to-please drill sergeant. The weird living arrangement, and the even weirder training of a mom-replacement, is unsettling and morbid.
These children don’t need a mother; they need a therapist.
We Are Family is rated Skip.
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