The reconciliation attempts of a dysfunctional New York family make for an affecting drama based on a single, clever conceit: The male relatives are played by successive generations of the Douglas acting dynasty -- father Kirk, son Michael, and grandson Cameron. What's more, Kirk's first wife, Diana, from whom he was divorced 50 years ago, plays the mother of Michael's character. While not an altogether original concept (Henry Fonda and his real-life daughter, Jane, played parent and child in 1981's On Golden Pond), it works here because the performances are uniformly strong; the eldest Douglas, having suffered a devastating stroke some years ago, exhibits energy that would be remarkable in even a healthy man of his age, and there seems to be scant diminution of his acting ability. He plays Mitchell Gromberg, cofounder of the prosperous law firm to which son Alex (Michael) devotes too much of his time. Alex's son Asher (Cameron Douglas, Michael's son from his first marriage), a college student who hasn't gotten much attention from his dad, is busted on drug charges, precipitating the latest in a series of family crises that range from Alex's suspected infidelity to his inability to have a civil exchange with his still feisty father. The interaction of members of this famous showbiz family makes for an unusually engrossing film, although script contrivances weaken it ever so slightly. Among the few non-Douglas cast members, Bernadette Peters registers solidly as Alex's long-suffering wife, and Rory Culkin scores as the lovestruck youngest scion of the Grombergs. Director Fred Schepisi could have sat back and let the novelty of the casting carry this picture, but he works hard to overcome minor script weaknesses and pulls disparate story points together. Thanks to him, It Runs in the Family succeeds as a strong, cohesive dramatic piece, not just a gimmicky bit of fluff.
