Family Squares Review: All-Star Dramedy Is Unfocused But Occasionally Sincere

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There was a time when one would head to the theater and watch a family dramedy that starred an all-star cast. They would play an eclectic group of people that were somehow related by blood or connected through marriage. They would gather for a special occasion, usually a holiday or the sudden passing of a loved one. Secrets would be revealed. Old wounds healed. Lots of laughter. Lots of tears. Well, that particular brand of dramedy wasn’t stopped by the pandemic and is back with a vengeance with Family Squares — now with Zoom.

Directed by Stephanie Laing from a screenplay by Laing and Brad Morris, Family Squares sees June Squibb playing Worth Family matriarch Mabel. The family has been somewhat estranged for a number of years, but they gather via Zoom after Grandma Mabel passes away. Naturally, chaos ensues. The family consists of Ann Dowd, Henry Winkler, Margo Martindale, Casey Wilson, Judy Greer, Timothy Simons, Scott McArthur, and Elsie Fisher. While gathered for a final goodbye to Mabel, the family descends into madness when long-buried family secrets are revealed. The moral of the story is that, while one cannot choose their family — at least not blood relatives — one can choose to be friends with them.

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The ensemble cast is, in a word, wild. This film is 90 minutes long and suffers under the crushing weight of this uniquely gifted and expansive group. With little time to flesh out the character arcs and follow certain subplots, the cast is tasked with the inevitable job of breathing some semblance of life into their characters. Some actors manage to draw from the collective experiences from living through an ongoing pandemic by