You don’t have to be a fan of the Great White Way to enjoy Everything’s Going To Be Great, a sweet little movie that premiered at the Tribeca Festival this month.
But if you get that reference to Broadway and the New York theatre scene, or you love the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, or you’ve ever been tempted to try out for your local community theatre, you will get what this movie is all about.
It opens with a rendition of “There’s No Business Like Show Business” over a title sequence using Broadway typeface on a very red, very theatrical curtain. The opening isn’t subtle, and neither is the script by Steven Rogers.
This is a tale of a mom (Allison Janney) and a dad (Bryan Cranston) and their two teen-age sons (Jack Champion and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who live their lives operating a regional theatre.
The younger son, played by Ainsworth, is all in—dreaming of hitting the big time in New York and so steeped in theatrical history that he holds imaginary conversations with dead stage luminaries like Noel Coward, Ruth Gordon, Tallulah Bankhead and even William Inge.
Ainsworth is wonderful, and we experience the ordeals that his character and his family face—financial and personal—through his eyes. It’s an artful performance, and director Jon S. Baird often, and rightfully, lingers on his expressive face.
The family’s journey, and one of its major plot points, might be summed up in an exchange between Cranston’s hyper-positive, always-a-twinkle-in-his-eye father confronting his older son about his lack of interest in pursuing the family business: “Who would choose to work at a Foot Locker instead of in the theatre?” You can see the son’s response coming a mile away.
For all the angst, you still believe they are a family (a very entertaining one) when both sons join their parents in the patter of “I am the very model of a modern major-general” as they head out on a road trip.
All is not sweetness and light, however, and there are some touching, emotional moments. Chris Cooper, joining the cast late in the film’s 95 minutes, is perfect in a role that catches and matches the imperfection of all the characters in this family drama.
Editor’s Note: Everything’s Going To Be Great is now playing at The SLO Film Center at the Palm Theatre.