I would agree it looks generic. But the stunning cast goes a long way. Looking like a great year shaping up for Sam Rockwell; he looks very good here alongside De Niro, and I'm also a big Kate Beckinsale fan. It's great to see De Niro in something that has some promise, it seems like the first time in a long time.

I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Predictable, sappy, and entirely miscast all around. Did you see "The Visitor"? Well, Robert DeNiro is no Richard Jenkins.

@Patricia: The Visitor was terrific. I don't know if the films are comparable though, this one seems more light-hearted. I think this film has some potential from the performances – De Niro and Rockwell looked particularly good – but certainly doesn't seem to pack the emotional puch of The Visitor.

@Danny: Do you think they're going for "light-hearted"? But my point is that these performances are rather perfunctory next to a film like "The Visitor" where everyone's performance seem to have risen from such authenticity. And yet, everyone treated Richard Jenkins' nomination as a kind of joke. All DeNiro has to do is not flub his lines and he gets mentioned for a nomination.

The cheesy trailer voiceover doesn't help this movie.

@Patricia: Maybe light-hearted was the wrong word, but it seemed that the trailer was filled with several jokes to try and get the audience's sympathy (the suitcase handle, the wine, the chopsticks, things like that). The Visitor had some of that, but like you said, it had a much more 'authentic' feel.

I would agree that, to an extent, the Awards consideration for De Niro is a little premature, but I am still excited to see his performance. The Visitor was one of my favorite films from last year, due in large part to Jenkins' performance. I would say that his nomination might've seemed like a joke to people who didn't see the film, but from critics, Jenkins was receiving Awards consideration a long time before the film came out.

Seems more like a Christmas feel good film than an Oscar winner, but looks nice and quaint.

Kate Beckinsale hasn't had an exceptional performance since 'Much Ado About Nothing', but she looks great in this.

"Robert de Niro is no Richard Jenkins," Patricia? I think it's the other way around. As much as I loved Jenkins in THE VISITOR, his body of work is nowhere near the magnitude of De Niro's.

@max: We don't judge performance on "body of work," unless we're the voting members of the Academy. But that's a different subject. This story about a man who leaves home and is changed by the process of interacting with the people he meets, is comparable to Richard Jenkins' character in "The Visitor." Jenkins was superb, DeNiro, however, seems hohum and rather formulaic.

@Danny: I didn't think Richard Jenkins' nomination was a joke. I think it was the most deserving of the lot. But was there any change he was going to win? No. Because although his performance was at an amazingly finely pitched level that is stunningly rare, he did not have the impetus of the other nominees…the body of work some people call it. I call it PR. I still remember him being interviewed on the red carpet for the Oscars and him just smiling and shrugging when asked what he thought of his changes to win.

@Patricia: Haha, yeah those interviews were great. He seems like such a deserving guy it was great to see him get the nomination — although I wish he would've knocked out Brad Pitt and not Clint Eastwood, but that's another topic.

@EnglishGavz: I agree

Substitute chance(s) for change(s). I hang my head in shame.