Being Flynn Paul Weitz The film is based on American playwright and poet Nick Flynn’s memoir, Another Bullshit Night In Suck City (2004). Clearly, this was never going to be a barrel of laughs given that it tackles estrangement, suicide and living on the streets. Robert De Niro is the deluded and stubborn father Jonathan Flynn, Julianne Moore (both below) is the single mother struggling to keep it all together, and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, 2006) is the emotionally distant son, Nick. After being largely absent from his son’s life, Jonathan gets in touch out of the blue when he is evicted from his apartment. They later cross paths again at the homeless shelter where Nick works. Awkwardness ensues. Scriptwriter and director Paul Weitz (About A Boy, 2002) tries to go for a quirky offbeat tone in handling the material, except that the attempt does not quite stick and Being Flynn remains largely unaffecting. (ST)