The Adults

Did Michael Cera lose a bet? My new least favourite movie. So odd, so so bad. A steaming pile of art that missed the canvass. Soulless and irritating. After the first 20 minutes I kept watching out of pure morbid curiosity for how it could possible end. It says the runtime was one hour and thirty one minutes, but the second and third acts just barrelled on for what felt like weeks. I aged watching this film. I need two hundred more characters for this review, so I'll finish by listing things I'd rather watch: paint dry, puppies cry, YouTube videos of 1990s commercials, promotional videos for timeshare condos, the Montreal Canadians.

I love Michael Cera's work and really rate him as an actor and his taste in projects. He is always interesting.

This film, although a long way from what we usually expect from him was still a good effort. This film is straight up family drama, not a comedy. It shows the quirks and reality of a trio of siblings left without their matriarch and patriarch to find their own path in the world, as they develop their own quirks and flaws as individuals apart from each other. The family house is still there, and the remnants of the siblings routines and mannerisms they developed as they grew up together, now apart.

Cera's character has developed an obsessive card game addiction, and we see this through him fobbing off friends and family in order to get his gaming fix, Sophia Lillis's character had drifted along with her frail quirky character and Hannah Gross's character had pulled back into her shell, still damaged by the loss of their mother and trying to find her path.

The movie was well made and acted and I appreciated the non hollywood approach to the film-making as they made a very real, honest, recognisable portrayal of family dynamics and human failings.

If you were looking for some light relief with good Cera style humour this isn't it, but you can admire and acknowledge the good small movie this team have created. Cera wears the same clothes throughout, the house is realistically spartan, the family show love and failings believably, and the messages are subtle.

Really interesting to see the mixed opinions on this. I really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful portrayal of sibling relationships, and so much in the movie is in what's unsaid. This can sometimes be frustrating in movies like this but there's so much depth in the characters and performances from the three leads that you can feel their complexities and pain, but also the unique connection they have. Reminiscent of the also great Skeleton Twins. I think it's currently really underrated on here and I'm glad I decided to watch it, based purely on a clip of Michael Cera's (excellent) Tony Soprano impression.

I like(d) Michael Cera (the leading actor) comical charisma before in many other movies, one being in Barbie recently. Michael Cera was even producer of this movie himself so he must have had a lot of cloud to mold this movie, but it unfortunately fell flat.

The bad: it isnst a comedy, not even a quirky one. It isnt a drama for sure either. It is some sort of slowburning and BLAND portrait of 3 siblings (1 brother, 2 sisters) who get together again after a long time no see.

No surprising storyline. No original direction. No impressive technical details (sound, photography). No actor's chemistry.

I guess they wanted to create a quirky, comical personal portrait, but they failed big time...

A weird trio of siblings that simply don't know how to communicate or never got the opportunity to grow up and relate to each other in a different, more meaningful way than that when they were little children.

Other than that, the seemingly endless stream of drama that comes from these people's trauma and unresolved issues just occupy the screen almost 100% of the time.

There is no history to be told here, no character development, no proper light and shade, no dynamic that makes watching this even remotely tolerable.

I would recommend avoiding it, as there are so many better alternatives to do with your time out there - better movies and activities alike.