Jennifer Vogel's father John was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history. Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, Flag Day stars Penn and his real-life daughter Dylan Penn in an intimate family portrait about a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of ... (Full plot summary below)
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Jennifer Vogel's father John was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history. Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, Flag Day stars Penn and his real-life daughter Dylan Penn in an intimate family portrait about a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past while reconciling the inescapable bond between a daughter and her father.
Leave your thoughts about Flag Day.
| VarietyOwen GleibermanEven telling the story of this scarred, flawed, barely together family, Penn creates honest notes of nostalgia. |
| Original-CinLiam LaceyFor the power of the performances and what they capture about guilt and family manipulation, Flag Day has a cathartic accuracy in many of its scenes. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleIt’s not an exciting film, and it’s not a film with some wider social relevance. But it’s a film that’s wise about people in a way that’s rare. It also launches Dylan Penn, and someday that will matter. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperIn Flag Day, Sean Penn directs himself for the first time and has cast Dylan Penn, his daughter with Robin Wright, as the lead — and the two are absolutely mesmerizing together, beautifully capturing the enormously complicated dynamic between a con man of a father who rolls out of bed with a fresh set of lies ready to go every morning, and an emotionally broken and bruised daughter who knows her dad is a walking bundle of disappointment but wants to believe that this time — this one time — he really has changed. |
| The GuardianPeter BradshawThere are some pretty broad emotional strokes here and maybe a fair bit of grandstanding. But it’s made with some style. |
| TheWrapSteve PondWhile the film sometimes struggles with disparate tones, it’s a solid, subtle drama that opts in most cases for restraint over excess. |
| IndieWireEric KohnThe movie has few tricks on offer but above all, delivers a solid reminder of Penn’s filmmaking talent, and welcome evidence that it runs in the family. |
| The PlaylistCaroline TsaiThe Penn father-daughter duo undoubtedly brings an air of authenticity to the Vogels’ relationship, which is wonderful at its best and tragic at its worst. Yet the film as a whole is somewhat of a mixed bag: both a paean for a lost America and an indictment of a modern American reality. |
| The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThankfully, Flag Day isn’t another disaster, though neither is it anywhere near the vicinity of Penn’s best work. |
| Washington PostAnn HornadayAs a director, Penn knows how to create arresting tableaus that draw the eye and spark the viewer’s own sensory past. As an actor, no one is better at finding honesty in the moment. Like the antihero at its center, the essence of Flag Day remains tantalizingly elusive, potently evoked but never fully realized. |
