The way this film began, I thought I might be onto something here with its dark humor leading the way. However, as the movie progressed it not only seemed to lose its focus but its humor as well.
Matthew Goode and Toni Collette star as two professors of science who obtain funding from a foundation led by Michael Smiley to use 2 adopted children plus their own soon-to-be baby in an experiment that they feel will prove no one must be a prisoner to their genetic make-up.
So for example, one of their adopted children, who comes from a family of "dolts" will be nurtured and home schooled so that she will become a "brainiac". In this controlled environment, they hope to confirm their hypotheses and eventually publish their findings.
However, aside from the fact that their children are treated like lab rats and are not told what is occurring, things will eventually go awry in various ways as does the movie itself, which seems to fall apart.
Overall, some of the very dark humor does work at times here, with Andreas Apergis quite funny as the assistant sent over by Smiley to help the parents.
To note, for those concerned there's nudity in the film, as well as some rather explicit and suggestive sexual references. There's also what I thought was a rather despicable scene where an animal is killed in an experiment and a young girl is blamed for its death.
