by Aaron Neathery
Daily Cougar Staff
A Family Thing is a good-natured movie, which, although probably not Oscar material, does chalk up points for being socially relevant and entertaining without being preachy.
The plot concerns Earl Pilcher Jr. (Robert Duvall), an ordinary fellow whose mother, Carrie (Mary Jackson), reveals on her deathbed that his true birth-mother is an African-American. Earl's birth was the result of an extra-marital affair.
That isn't all. Earl learns he has a brother, a police officer in Chicago named Ray Murdock (James Earl Jones). Earl's mother has one last wish: that the two should meet. Hoping to tie up all of the loose ends, the ill-equipped, small-town Earl heads out to the big city.
Ray is understandably less than thrilled to meet up with his half-brother, but the two are forced into close proximity when Earl is carjacked, beaten and placed under Ray's supervision.
The script for A Family Thing by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson is lively, interesting and complex. It's a modern fable capable of teaching a few things about race relations, even to those who might think they've heard it all. Jones and Duvall manage to take even the script's weakest moments and transform them into classic scenes.
A Family Thing is quite an emotional roller-coaster ride, and it cuts right to the core of racial problems in America. Box-office goldmine or not, A Family Thing should, by moral consensus, remain in theaters for quite some time.
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