"The People We Hate at the Wedding" -- Movie Review

 

This week, I streamed Amazon Studios new Prime Video comedy, “The People We Hate at the Wedding”, starring Allison Janney and Kristen Bell.  

Synopsis

When a dysfunctional blended family reunites for a wedding abroad, can they avoid triggering each other to prevent the nuptials from turning into a disaster?

Story

In her youth, Donna (Allison Janney) met and married Henrique (Isaach De Bankolé); they lived in London with their daughter Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) – but unfortunately, they did not live happily ever after.  A few years later, Henrique began cheating on Donna; they ultimately divorced and Donna returned to the United States with Eloise.  Eventually, Donna remarried and had two more children with her new husband:  Alice (Kristen Bell) and Paul (Ben Platt).  They all lived together until Donna’s husband passed away.  Once the children were grown, they went their separate ways – Eloise left for London and the once-close family was now distanced both geographically and emotionally.

The day that everyone was secretly dreading has finally arrived:  Eloise announces that she’s getting married and she wants her mother and half-siblings to attend.  Although Donna is happy for her oldest daughter, she doesn’t look forward to making the long trip to London, especially since she will inevitably wind up having to see Henrique once again after all these years.  Likewise, Alice and Paul find this to be a significant interruption to their own life; feeling rather detached from their half-sister, the rigmarole is nothing but a nuisance – not to mention bad timing. 

Reluctantly, they agree to attend (as if they had a choice!).  Alice, who is having an affair with her married boss, heads to London on her own; her “boyfriend” agrees to meet her there just in time for the ceremony.  Paul and his partner also fly out, only to eventually learn that their own relationship is on the rocks when they meet up with another man.  Following a raucous and chaotic pre-wedding party, Eloise then informs her mother and half-siblings that they are uninvited from the wedding.  On the day of the ceremony, Eloise has a meltdown and starts to panic.  Can the family finally come together to help her save her special day?

Review

Based on the book by Grant Ginder, the R-rated movie adaptation of “The People We Hate at the Wedding” seems to be going for the same audience that made the film “Bridesmaids” such a huge (and well-deserved) hit.  The problem is that despite terrific performances by both Kristen Bell and the consistently excellent Allison Janney, the humor is not quite sharp enough, even though it does make many attempts to rely on the same style of ribald jokes.  One gets the sense that the screenwriters may have downed many glasses of Chardonnay as a prelude to getting their words into the script.   

If you are considering streaming “The People We Hate at the Wedding” on Prime Video, it may be worth it more for seeing Janney and Bell rather than the film itself.  Janney provides the necessary credibility for her character while Bell seems quite comfortable playing the quite outlandish daughter from the second marriage; speaking of outlandish, Ben Platt’s character has one scene where a gay three-way is threatened to ensue – that scene alone is conceivably what earns this movie the R-rating it justly deserves.  Definitely not a family-friendly film unless your family is as twisted as the one portrayed here. 

Coming in at less than two hours, “The People We Hate at the Wedding” is not a very demanding investment of your time – in fact, at a little over an hour and a half, it’s just about the perfect length for a comedy.  More mildly amusing than actually laugh-out-loud funny, this movie can serve as something of a lighthearted distraction if that’s all that you’re in the mood for – but if you’re in need of more substantial entertainment, it may be necessary to look elsewhere.  There aren’t too many serious scenes in this film, so don’t expect anything terribly profound.  In fact, it’s a motion picture that will likely be easily forgotten not too soon after it’s been viewed.    

 

"The Son" -- Movie Review

 

This week at Film At Lincoln Center, I attended an advance screening of “The Son”, a new drama by writer/director Florian Zeller; it features Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Anthony Hopkins. 

Synopsis

When a divorced father learns of his teenage son’s emotional problems, can he save him before the boy does something drastic?

Story

Peter (Jackman) is a successful, ambitious businessman in New York City – he’s even fielding an offer from a United States Senator who wants to hire him for his upcoming presidential campaign.  After his divorce from Kate (Dern), he’s remarried to Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and started a second family with their newborn son Theo.  His plans get interrupted when Kate informs him that their 17 year old son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) has been having some problems; with Nicholas skipping school and displaying a variety of behavioral issues, Kate implores Peter to intervene.  When he meets with his son, Nicholas requests he move in with Peter and Beth – despite Beth's concerns, Peter relents. 

Nicholas takes a spare room at Peter and Beth's apartment; Beth maintains a watchful eye on him due to his unusual demeanor.  Peter registers him in a new school so he can have a fresh start.  Soon after, however, he discovers that Nicholas is a “cutter” – he makes cuts in his arm occasionally, causing bleeding and leaving scars.  When confronted about this, Nicholas admits to his father that he’s been having difficulty dealing with his parents’ divorce, especially after witnessing his mother's reaction; he feels that both he and his mother have been abandoned, discarded and completely forgotten. 

Eventually, Peter finds out that Nicholas has been hiding the truth from him – he hasn’t been attending classes at his new school and he’s continuing to cut himself with increasing frequency.  One of his cuttings results in a failed suicide attempt, which causes him to be hospitalized; once his physical health is stabilized, Nicholas remains in the psychiatric ward for observation.  The psychiatrist tries to convince Peter and Kate to let Nicholas remain there because of his severe depression and likelihood of another suicide attempt.  Despite the recommendation, they decide to sign out Nicholas and take him home, believing that if they shower him with enough love and attention, he will improve.  But will this plan truly work?

Review

With such a great cast, you would think that “The Son” would be a terrific motion picture – unfortunately, the performances can’t elevate its quality.  It couldn't be saved even if Hugh Jackman transformed into Wolverine at the end.  There is just too much of a melodrama feel to garner much interest.  “The Son” is basically a made-for-TV flick that only got greenlit as a feature because of the cast attached to the project – not to mention the director’s previous success with “The Father”.  After Zeller made “The Father”, he followed-up with “The Son”.  Will his next be “The Holy Spirit”?  That would make quite the trinity.           

Much of the script is rather curious, making you wonder what the characters are doing and why they are making the choices they have made (or haven’t made, as the case may be).  While the intent behind the film seems to be heartfelt, it’s difficult to muster much compassion for these characters.  Even the distressed son can be a bit irritating with his passive aggressive behavior.  One thing to note is that while Anthony Hopkins is in “The Son”, he only has the one scene, which is quite good; so if you’re considering seeing this for another stellar Hopkins portrayal, you may want to reconsider. 

There was an interview with the star of “The Son”, Hugh Jackman, after the screening.  Jackman said that Zeller’s approach to shooting the film was to not have any rehearsals, nor did he allow the cast to watch the monitors after a take.  As a result, Jackman felt that he had to put complete trust in his director.  The final emotionally intense scene of the movie was shot only three days after Jackman’s own father had passed away; he said it took a total of 17 takes and the entire time, he felt his father’s presence on the set.  The play on which the motion picture is based was set in France, but Zeller put the adaptation in New York City because he believes that New York is the crossroads of the world and that the story could be set anywhere because it’s so universal.