The War with Grandpa: Robert De Niro’s new comedy has unlikely Deer Hunter reunion and ‘meta' Taxi Driver reference
Robert De Niro’s latest role as a grandpa has surprised critics with a few references to his previous films.
Four years after receiving some of the worst reviews of his career for Dirty Grandpa, De Niro now stars in The War with Grandpa.
The family comedy follows a young boy (Oakes Fegley) who desperately tries to get his grandfather to move out of his bedroom when he moves into the family home.
Responding to the boy’s attempts, De Niro’s character devises a series of pranks of his own with the help from some of his pensioner friends.
One of these characters is played by Christopher Walken, in what is a rather unexpected Deer Hunter reunion.
Both actors starred in Michael Cimino’s 1978 drama about steelworkers whose lives were irrevocably changed by the Vietnam War.
Apparently, according to The Hollywood Reporter, one scene in the film sees De Niro talking to himself in the mirror just like his Taxi Driver character Travis Bickle.
“There are some amusing meta-style moments, including a scene of De Niro talking to himself in a mirror, that might provide the intended knowing chuckles,” the outlet’s review wrote.
Another link to De Niro’s past filmography comes via the fact that he’s playing Uma Thurman’s father when, in 1993, they played lovers in crime comedy Mad Dog and Glory.
The War with Grandpa is being released in UK cinemas on 16 October.
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