Review | The War With Grandpa movie review: Robert De Niro can’t save this forgettable family comedy
- He showed he’s still a force to be reckoned with in The Irishman, yet De Niro returns to lowbrow comedy – and this one has few genuine laughs
- A Home Alone-inspired series of increasingly elaborate pranks, booby traps, and practical jokes fail to get the desired results
1/5 stars
Just last year, two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro proved that he could still deliver knockout performances to rival anything from his 50-year career.
But in recent years, landmark turns such as that in The Irishman have become the exception, obscured by an endless stream of vacuous, lowbrow comedies that threaten to inflict permanent damage on De Niro’s cinematic legacy.
The latest such example, The War With Grandpa, stars De Niro as Ed, a recently widowed retiree who moves in with his daughter (Uma Thurman) and her family.
The move forces grandson Peter (Oakes Fegley) out of his bedroom and into the attic, prompting the 12-year-old to declare war on his elderly relative to reclaim his territory.
Based on Robert Kimmel Smith’s award-winning children’s novel, first published in 1984, The War With Grandpa escalates the book’s modest antics into a Home Alone-inspired series of increasingly elaborate pranks, booby traps, and practical jokes.