A spirited rendition of “There’s No Business Like Show Business” during the opening credits gets the oddball dramedy Everything’s Going To Be Great off to a promising start, right in line with its optimistic title. What follows though is the story of a fairly dysfunctional family that takes to the road following patriarch Buddy Smart’s (Bryan Cranston) somewhat ill-considered dreams in the world of regional theatre. The idea comes from screenwriter Steven Rogers, who grew up in this world where his father worked putting on shows from town to town, something that inspired Rogers to take that idea, place it back in the late ’80s, and put on this show. The family here includes the practical and religious matriarch Macy (Allison Janney), wannabe-jock 16-year-old Derrick (Jack Champion) and his 14-year-old brother and budding star Lester (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) and seems to be each following their own separate trajectory as Dad exhibits nothing but misplaced positivity that for this family “everything’s going to be great.”
Coming from their current home base in Ohio, Buddy gets the opportunity to stage a five-week summer show in New Jersey, a gig he is convinced will lead to much bigger things — notably Milwaukee, where the prospect of a more steady theatrical gig looms. Macy is the practical one, looking at the sorry finances and trying to keep the clan on course, turning to religion for support as well as a cast member of the troupe, Kyle (Simon Rex) who offers her some empathy and perhaps more (at least that is what we are told later) missing from her life. The live wire in this group is Les, brought to vivid life by Ainsworth, who is an actor yet to win any audition for his Dad’s shows but with the promise someday he will be the right fit. That doesn’t stop him from hanging out backstage and even running on for the curtain call in shows he is not in. He loves playing bagpipes with dad, singing along to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, Fiddler on the Roof, and belting out the showstopper “One” from A Chorus Line. There are even fantasy meetings with theatrical legends offering him encouragement including Noel Coward, Tallulah Bankhead, Ruth Gordon and even playwright William Inge. One such invention occurs in the halls of his school as he is confronted by a bully who calls him a “f*g” for doing shows instead of sports, in which Les answers by envisioning four butt-naked actors from Hair providing support for him in this confrontation.
Les’ big brother Derrick wants none of this and only hopes to make the football team and get laid so he can stop being a virgin. He also eschews the family business and is distraught when he is forced to move with them to Jersey, where the promised audience fails to show up, still not downing Buddy’s enthusiasm as he enlists every church group and denomination in the city to sign up as subscribers. And then his big dream comes true when a promise of a five-year gig in Wisconsin promises to send the family packing again.
Rogers has written scripts for a number of star-driven studio vehicles like Hope Floats for Sandra Bullock, Stepmom with Julia Roberts, Kate & Leopold starring Hugh Jackman and more, but his real claim to fame is the terrific I, Tonya (for which Janney won a supporting actress Oscar) with Margot Robbie. That would give promise that this offbeat premise might have some bite to it, but charming as some of it is thanks to a terrific and game cast doing their best to bring it to life, the episodic nature and abrupt changes of tone don’t always work, certainly not for other films in this family zone like Little Miss Sunshine and Captain Fantastic which showed how it should be done.
Director Jon S. Baird, whose Stan & Ollie and Tetris I really liked, does what he can, but it often feels like a kind of truncated tale that starts to head in one direction only to zig-zag somewhere else. Just when you feel the movie is really going to focus on the quirky irresistible ambitions of young Les, it switches to Macy’s downbeat complaints about her life, and later the revelation of regrets about an affair that really comes out of nowhere. Buddy’s character completely disappears halfway through, leading to another move for the family to Macy’s brother’s farm in Kansas. He is played nicely by Chris Cooper. And then it switches to Derrick’s sexual longings, mostly talked about except with the introduction of Selena (a wonderful Jessica Clement), a local girl who serves as sounding board to both him and Les at different points and who then gets to kill singing a Christmas song. The whole idea of a family living life against the backdrop of regional theatre is lost along the way.
So is everything really going to be great? We can only hope so for this bunch. One thing is for sure: both Janney and Cranston, pros supreme, deliver exactly as you hope they would, even if both of these roles are underwritten to be completely credible. Ainsworth, and to a lesser degree Clement, get the best moments along the way, stealing every scene they are in.
Producers are Rogers, Alex Lalonde and Bryan Unkeless.
Title: Everything’s Going To Be Great
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release date: June 20, 2025
Director: Jon S. Baird
Screenwriter: Steven Rogers
Cast: Allison Janney, Bryan Cranston, Chris Cooper, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Jack Champion, Simon Rex, Laura Benanti, Cady Huffman, Jessica Clement, Mark Caven, Chuck Reid
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 35 mins
