Easter Sunday – A Vanilla Dysfunctional Family Comedy

Just to get this out of the way now, a film called Easter Sunday being released on the first weekend of August is weird. Either way, it’s merely part of the premise of yet another dysfunctional family comedy, an already crowded subgenre. That being said, representation on screen continues to be a major driving force in film and television as this film puts a Filipino twist on it all. However, that twist could not be felt beyond a surface level as the film essentially devolves into any other dysfunctional family comedy, checking off a lot of the same story beats and utilizing a lot of the same humor over the course of its 90+ minute running time. While it may work for some audiences, most will simply find it lazy and derivative but with representation, it’s all a matter of perception as the film is sure to resonate with some more than others. Led by comedian Jo Koy, he brings some charm as the lead. As far as the rest of the film is concerned, that’s pretty much it as it does next to nothing with everyone else who seem to be going through the motions.

Based on the life experiences of Koy, Easter Sunday is definitely a love letter to his Filipino-American heritage as it follows a comedian and aspiring actor named Joe Valencia (Koy) who in the midst of his blossoming career, returns home for Easter with his estranged teenage son Junior (Wardell). Easter Sunday is considered an important holiday for Filipinos who would routinely gather to spend time together and eat. Now it wouldn’t be much of a film if Valencia’s family wasn’t at least on the crazy side but thankfully they were. Though they were a cast of characters, there was nothing necessarily out of the ordinary about them in terms of personalities and general dysfunction. The film plays them off of each other in the usual ways for comedic effect which may illicit some laughs despite being bland for the most part. While it throws some adversity in the way of the characters, the outcome of it all is still inevitable as the experience offers Valencia some much-needed perspective as all the other characters basically served to advance his character arc that saw him get it back. This makes all the other characters come off as thin and inconsequential.

Needless to say, Easter Sunday had its moments as it prevails with heart but at the end of the day, it’s kind of sad how the representation angle goes out of the window right away as it falls into the trap of common tropes that have been tackled much better in countless other films. The film never rises above the level of okay, however, its ultimate saving grace is the aforementioned charm of Koy as Valencia. He holds it all together as the relatable straight man amongst the crazy characters who made up his family for which he tried to hold together. While the film doesn’t offer anything new in terms of moments of dysfunction, the chemistry of the cast makes for a decent dynamic. Wardell as Joe Junior or Junior was the only other interesting character as he and his father seemed to be on parallel arcs to somewhat of an extent.

Overall, Easter Sunday brings some representation to the table but that’s about it, amounting to another unremarkable dysfunctional family comedy that will mean more to some audiences than others.

still courtesy of Universal Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.