When was the last time we saw a hypersexual family comedy? Does Addams Family Values count? In The Family Tree, we revisit the forgotten genre and talents of Christina Hendricks, Hope Davis, Oscar-winning songwriter Keith Carradine, Dermot Mulroney, Gabrielle Anwar, and Selma Blair in full Velma Kelly drag. How refreshing! It also helps that Christina Hendricks weeps about dildos.
Hope you took a minute to glean the plot: Hope Davis suffers severe memory loss in a sex accident, and thanks to her affliction, she wins a chance to save her family. I support any film that features a BJ scene atop a Ferris Wheel, because that's one of the most scenic BJs a chap can enjoy. Downright transcendental, that carnivalhead.
It's a little disturbing, however, to see Christina Hendricks visit an office space similar to that of her Mad Men character Joan Holloway's and defile it with the otherworldly oral sex. Joan's too cool for frivolity within the confines of Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce! Or so I want her to be! Though I do enjoy hearing the word "dildo" tumble out of her mouth. Pretty sure Hendricks' old Hollywood counterparts like Veronica Lake and Jayne Mansfield never got to cry about sex toys on the big screen. Thanks for keeping our pin-ups raunchy, 2011.
Yes, The Family Tree is pointedly dark and vulgar, but sometimes that's an effervescent exercise. Here's hoping it can sustain the madness for 90 minutes.
VERDICT: Necessarily nasty