APRIL 2022:
If It Smells Good….
My favorite scene from this movie involves a fart joke, and I completely own it. It is about a half hour into the movie when Ruby Rossi is sitting at the picnic table on the porch of the Rossi Home, that also serves as the dinner table. Ruby is studying at the table, outside on the porch her father is cleaning off the grill from cooking dinner, and loudly. You can also hear the constant pinging of someone matching on Tinder. Ruby annoyed by all the noise and distraction puts her earbuds in and turns the volume way up. Her mother, played by Marlee Matlin, comes in at that same moment and puts the dinner plates on the table, and slams her hand on the table to get Ruby’s attention. She then signs to her “Take those off. It’s rude.” Ruby removes the ear buds. Then signs back while also saying “Whats rude is how noisy you guys are.” Her mother looks at her and does that mom shoulder arms out “well” thing that moms do. Ruby turns the music off and puts her earbuds away frustratingly and goes back to studying.
As her mother leaves the table to head back into the kitchen, she signs to Ruby’s brother Leo, played by Daniel Durant, “Go Eat.” He is sitting in a lounge chair getting all those matches on Tinder I mentioned before. Just as Jackie goes back into the kitchen, Frank comes in from cleaning the grill and puts the grilled chicken in the middle of the table and sits across from Ruby. As Frank is sitting down, he farts, then goes on about his business making his dinner plate. As the fart is heard, Leo is getting another match on Tinder.
Ruby immediately reacts by slapping her fathers arm to get his attention and grabs the hood of her sweatshirt to cover her nose. Looking at her father disgusted at the release so openly. Her father reacts to her displeasure by asking her and signing “Do you know why God made farts smell?” Another Tinder match can be heard as Ruby shrugs a ‘I don’t know‘ with her shoulders and hand. To which her father signs back in response, “So deaf people could enjoy them too.” after which he inhales the scent in the air and Ruby laughs under her hooded covered mouth. She drops it from a her face with a smile, shakes her head and they both start laughing. It was in this moment that I fell in love with this movie. I have no problem admitting that. And let me tell you why.
Oooo That Smell…
I laughed so hard in that moment watching at home. And could relate it to memories with my own father. He told a few dirty jokes in his day. He died in 2014, but while watching that scene, and even though he’s signing the entire time. For me, I related to that moment as a viewer. I felt comfort in that moment. I was thinking of my dad and missing him. The joke was like a warm blanket in terms of relatability. That moment allowed me to think of my father and smile through my laugh. I was now invested to see how this film was going to turn out and Frank Rossi was my favorite character so far. Leo and his mother Jackie join them at the table and the scene continues. I felt like this was one of the many great scenes in the film. And its not just because of the fart joke.
The first time I watched it I couldn’t help but notice how lived in the production crew made the home. The way the porch is lived in you can tell its the one place the family, hearing and deaf, come together. It made the scene, family and film so believable. As the scene continues and a heated discussion over Tinder at the table is had, any hearing family can relate to the scene. It didn’t matter that the conversation being had was in sign language and the only one talking while signing was Ruby. Every viewer watching can relate to the usual family banter at any dinner table across the globe. The dinner table may not always look the same as The Rossi’s, but the banter is the same. The entire scene becomes a familiar place we can all relate to. Even the dinner plates looked oddly familiar to me. I swore while watching my family had the same ones at some point.
Farts are for Everyone, If you just get past the smell…
I loved that joke. And will definitely tell that joke in the future. Why? Because it’s a funny joke. Even the joke is about inclusion. I will tell it to the next hearing or deaf person I am conversing with, in a relaxed environment I’m in that permits it. Of Course. But what the joke and scene prove is how much the deaf community and their lived experience is very similar to the lived experience of a hearing family. They just communicate it and express it differently.
This scene is the reason inclusion of the Deaf Community in film matters. It was such a powerful scene to me in the way that it is placed early on in the film to develop the characters as a family, to help the viewer relate to this family they are about to go on this emotional journey with. And it’s with this scene that the viewer, me specifically, invested in watching the movie. I wanted to know how this movie was going to turn out, I saw how this family loved each other in that “Fart Joke/Tinder Dinner Fight” moment. I wanted to see more of Frank on screen even more after that joke, and he doesn’t disappoint.
The Smell Lingers…
Troy Kotsur has another great and colorful sign language scene during a meeting with the Fisherman’s Co-op later in the film, to which I also laughed hysterically. Lets just say Deaf people don’t simply use their middle finger to get that point across. I will just leave it at that and have faith in you watching the scene for yourself and belly laughing as hard as I did.
I will include for you though, the scene I have reviewed here so you can see for yourself just how great that fart joke is: