User reviews

I attended the premiere of Labor Day at the Toronto International Film Festival. Most people walked in expecting a Juno/Up in the Air style comedy and if that's what you expect you'll be mildly surprised. The film is darker that Reitman's usual works though you still recognize the director's touch.

The movie tells the story of Adele (Kate Winslet), a woman who slowly shut herself off from the world, relying heavily on her young son Henry (Gattlin Griffith), whose father abandoned them to another wife and other children. Enters a menacing escaped convict (Josh Brolin) who finds refuge with Adele and her son as he tries to remain hidden from the police.

The summary will have you believe that 'the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become increasingly limited.' or that the family realizes they're now prisoners in their own home which makes it sound like the movie is going to be some sort of Panic Room 2 but the story is nothing like that. As Adele and her son get to know the prisoner, they both find the family they've been longing for.

It's a beautiful story despite being somewhat implausible but I found what mattered wasn't the story we see, so much as witnessing the characters finally having a shot at happiness and how the remainder of their days is shaped by this weekend they spent together. This film isn't driven by dialogue as much as Reitman's other films were. The director has said in interviews that he found it challenging to do a movie where there was little dialogue (he actually said without music or dialogue and I walked in half expecting to see a silent film.) He worked around it by having Tobey Maguire narrate the film as an older Henry. The narration works though I think the film could have done without it as well. Don't let the whole 'silent' thing keep you from seeing this film, I found there was enough dialogue, and there is music as well though unlike Juno it doesn't play as a whole hipster soundtrack.

The movie is more subtle yet more raw, slower than his usual films and it lets the actors take us through every emotion. Kate Winslet is a terrific actress and she gave a beautiful performance as Adele, very convincingly portraying a woman who's given up on living. Josh Brolin was great as well, giving us both a tough convict and a soft hearted man at times. Gattlin Griffith was great at a kid who grew up faster than he should. I'm always very iffy when it comes to child actors but he pulled it off very well.

In conclusion, Labor Day is a different, more adult and more mature film from Jason Reitman. It's a nice transitions from his previous comedies and goes a bit deeper than his other films, bringing tension, tears and some laughs. Whether you're already a Reitman fan or not, I recommend this film, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Today I gave my rating for this movie that I really liked. I did not want to write a review but I was a little disappointed by the summary for the movie written on IMDb. It says: "Depressed single mom Adele and her son Henry offer a wounded, fearsome man a ride." Adele and her son do not offer the man a ride which is very important for the story. Having said this, let me say a little about this movie. The movie plays very nicely with fear and tension. Any moment we expect something very terrible to happen. Murder, betrayal, rape, you name it. In contrast, an interesting and amicable relationship between the three main characters develops. The movie even has a happy end that is kind of unexpected. Seeing this movie I felt like being in an earthquake only to learn afterwards that no damage was done.

The story was good and I felt myself like watching one of 80i movies, Kate Winslet performance was extraordinary you don't even feel she is acting she is living her role and being so nature in that.

Labor Day is an unbelievably gorgeous mood piece, a finely-tuned film which is strongly driven by senses and emotions over plot or story. It's arguably one of the best films of 2013.

I haven't seen a Reitman film since Juno so I haven't caught up. So I'm not sure where he matured from a 'good' director of a quirky script to an 'art' director who can carry an entire film on his shoulders. That's not to say everyone else in this film didn't do a great job. But the film works because of Reitman's meticulous vision.

Heavy use of cross-fades, editing driven by emotional undercurrent over logic, and some stream-of-consciousness flowing from a mysterious source. The music is avant-garde and beautiful, one moment eerie and unsettling, the next pleasant and lilting. Which reflects the way the film, like a piece of classical music, displays sudden shifts of mood or tonality, back and forth, requiring your utmost concentration and appreciation.

Writing too much else would spoil the fun. But the mindset you should bring this film, should you want to see it, is to give yourself over to the experience, rather than bringing an overly (and unnecessarily) critical mind to it's 'unoriginal' or 'uneventful' plot.

OK, Josh Brolin has redeemed himself after the disaster of "Old Boy", phew...i was getting worried there as he is one of my favorite actors. this movie is totally different then what i had thought of it in my head. i thought it was gonna be a little bit like the movie " a perfect world " but it was nothing like that.

i was surprised this movie came and went without any fanfare as it really is a good movie and one of my favorites of the year. the 2 adult leads were great and the kid was also very good.

the story is about an escaped convict who gets holed up in a mentally fragile divorcée and her sons home over Labor Day and then what happens the next few days and the consequences of peoples actions even if they didn't mean anything bad by doing such acts.

loved the setting in a slow moving beautiful town atmosphere where it seems like everything moves like molasses, there seem to be a calmness to the picture but right underneath that you could feel the uneasiness and hidden angst of each of the characters in this movie.

also this is a movie about the coming of age of the boy and some of the logical and illogical choices he makes, including one biggg one that has direct consequences for Josh Brolins character.

very very solid movie, bittersweet and moving, almost, but not made me cried. Josh Brolin is back on track again, very good performance from him and everybody involved. one of the must see movies of the year.

I haven't got to say a lot about this upcoming motion picture but praise Kate Winslets dynamic intimate and breath taking performance.Kate once again gives it all on the big screen. And one thing I am telling you for sure, she is going for an Oscar. Since we saw Kate winning that golden statue back in 2009 for her performance in the historic ''The Reader'', Kate has been a bit distant from the screen. Apart from her minor movie roles in ''Contagion'' and ''Movie 43'' and of course the successful ''Carnage'', Kate hadn't had a big emotional performance like that for years. The English Rose once again leaves us with tears on our eyes with her performance. She proves us through the film that she for sure deserves the title of one of the greatest actresses of all times. Apart from Winslet's praised and acclaimed performance the film is generally very good and it will make you tear a bit that's a fact! However, the screenplay is a bit dull for this film and the rhythm of the whole motion picture a bit slow. I wont be surprised if the film receives mixed reviews from critics.

If you're interested in a good adult romantic drama, look no further than the movie "Labor Day."

Superior acting by Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin and young Gattlin Griffith, this is a story with multi- layered depth and haunting flashbacks through dreams ... some viewers might become impatient as the various dream scenes flicker across the movie screen. Just wait, it's all done with amazing dramatic effect, and when the dream scape finally reveals itself, you'll be impressed with the final story.

More importantly, "Labor Day" displays the under utilized message of the impact of relationships, even though the positive results are revealed many years later.

The soundtrack is unusual and haunting, providing a surreal effect on the entire production.

I actually read the novel Labor Day by Joyce Maynard before I rented the film. The book is very good and packs an emotional wallop at the end (a similar ending with some added nuances). Having read the book, I knew what was going to happen so in some ways it took away any of the suspense that existed in the film for people who were seeing the story for the first time.

I think the book fills in the details of the characters' lives better than the film does, however the director obviously had to choose how to provide the background stories of Adele and Frank, and given their individual pasts, it wasn't an easy feat. The director did an admirable job in my opinion, yet I don't know if I hadn't read the book if I'd have been able to piece together Frank's story all that well.

The casting of Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin was very inspired and they each captured their characters believably. This is a love story ultimately and being told from the perspective of a 13 year old boy adds a perspective that is refreshing.

The movie Labor Day stars Kate Winslet, Gattlin Griffith, and Josh Brolin. When I saw this film yesterday, I was lucky enough to have the director, Jason Reitman, get up on stage and introduce the movie. He made it clear that this film was not a comedy, but a romantic drama that he made with tons of passion. For what it is, I think the film is amazing. I will warn you, this is a film was made for women, but guys can appreciate it too.

So this movie was fun to watch. There was a lot of tension, and the actors did a good job of making even the unbelievable situations seem natural. There was a mystery that unfolded over the course of the movie, and the film was able to create real emotion and genuine shock from the audience. There is also great cinematography, nice subplots, and a final quarter that keeps you guessing. I'm not exaggerating any of this, so seriously ignore the critics and give this film a chance.

The main thing that is wrong with the film is a certain level of disbelief, but it doesn't require more suspension of disbelief than any of the big blockbuster movies. It could also get cheesy and a little uncomfortable to watch at times, but it is still a great movie. i hope Jason Reitman continues to make great movies, as he has not made a single misstep in his career yet.

This is a good movie to take a girl to on a date, and I'm sure you both could enjoy it. It is a little like a Nicolas Sparks book except with Oscar level acting, directing, cinematography, and screen writing, so if that sounds like your kind of thing, I highly recommend this movie, and reward it with an 8.7/10 stars.

There is no doubt about the implausibility of a lonely depressed Mother and her Son being picked up by a man in a grocery store (hardly a supermarket)who turns out to be an escaped convict on the run.

The fact is that the two characters both in terms of real time acting and in terms of the story line blended and bonded well in my personal view and there is nothing appropriate in trivialising a movie which reaches deep inside our hearts and brings more than a few tears to our eyes while watching it as they both seek to re-discover love and a righteous way to live their life.

There are too many films made nowadays focused on action and violence riddled with bad language, perverseness and inappropriate sexuality.

This film is well directed, the screenplay story is entirely logical in the circumstances, the acting does not disappoint and the ending of the film was well considered.

I am not altogether sure of the implied reference to 'Labor Day' in the title and I was initially put off watching this film for a couple of months because I thought this might be some kind of 'Mum gets pregnant' cheesy love-story film. Not like that at all.

I have questions as to who is the real Mother of Henry (Hank) given developments during the story and not having read the book and there is a hollowness to Frank's earlier part of the story with his girlfriend/wife. The same could be said about Adele and her relations with her former husband and what was the real cause of her depression.

There are many issues about this film which merit open discussion but overall this is a super film and should be appreciated and enjoyed on merit.

This movie was frustrating and nonsensical. The story revolves around a single mom and teenage son. When they are threatened and forced to take him to their home under threat of violence, they form an unrealistic and apparently romantic bond over less than a week.

What happens makes no sense, the relationship between her and the random man that kidnapping her and threatened her son had no development She knew him less than a week and was willing to uproot her child, lose custody of her child, and stay single for decades for a random murderer she didn't know. Her relationship with her son is gross and completely unrealistic to how parents and children interact. One of the worst movies I've seen in a while.

"I'm a lot stronger than you think." "I don't doubt that." Adele and Frank.

Director Jason Reitman is no stranger to unusual family stories (Juno) or character drama (Up in the Air), so his enjoyable Labor Day is a bit of both without the humor. Because this is January, a dead-zone time for releases, it's even more impressive as an audience-pleasing drama about an escaped convict Frank (Josh Brolin) and a mother he kidnaps, Adele (Kate Winslet), along with her 7th grade son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith).

Let's get the formula out now: she falls in love with her captor and the son willingly learns about life and baseball. The real life, however, is hounding them as the law closes in on their 5 days of "family" bliss. However, the authorities are too slow to stop the best family pie making scene ever, domestic stuff just one of charming murderer Frank's gifts and a Reitman specialty.

Recently Mud is similarly about the coming of age and criminal motif and Revolutionary Road with Winslet about a disintegrating family. Yet Reitman and novelist Joyce Maynard have crafted a story that slowly makes believable the growing love between captive and captor, a relationship helped by the classy acting chops of Winslet and Brolin. Although everyone knows helping an escaped criminal leads to serious jail time, this case actually cuts Adele a great deal of slack in the guilty category. As Reitman slowly reveals their mutually grim backgrounds, we are aware that her needs for the touch of a lover are so acute that even this gamble could be worth the risk.

Although Labor Day comes close to Nicholas Sparks' sentimental claptrap, Reitman preserves everyone's dignity, lets love grow, and ushers a kid into a complicated world of love and danger—a labor of love, so to speak, on the film's titular weekend, typically American and hard work: "I sensed my inadequacy," says the adult Henry in voice over. In matters of the heart, we're all inadequate and need films like Labor Day to help us move on.

Josh Brolin (Frank) and the kid were outstanding here. Kate did well too until things got a bit tough for her and was a bit outshone by the conviction and energy of the other two. She really didn't play a depressed person well enough. She preferred to just stay quiet and timid. But Thais didnt work.

Set in 80s America, although nothing at all except Frank's clothing looked like the 80s in this movie. That was the frost issue I had. Secondly, there was nothing about how she could afford a house like that on her own. Not enough on the backgrounds of each. We basically see the movie in the eyes of a teenager who is starting his hormonal faze and becoming curious about girls, and needs a father figure because his mother lacks being depressed.

Although the whole idea and story was good the critics hates it because it was too basic and frail. Thats critics for you. They forget the movie is set decades ago. I don't think they fully understood the movie. The kid carried this movie and deserved huge praise.

I remember when this film was about to come out in 2013, seeing a trailer for it before another movie and thinking that I felt like I had seen the entire film. I could tell it was a film that was going to play out in a very expected manner and so I lost interest in it and never saw it, despite being a huge Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin fan. I finally saw it on a plane last night, and I was right all those years, but it was still a well put together film.

I think in the film like this the crucial factor is whether the movie can make you care about the character's fate or not. And this film did. We get every scene with these characters and enough work is put in to have me thinking, I hope everything works out well for these people.

The child actor Gattlin Griffith did a good job too I have to say. Often a character like that can come across very annoying and really bog down a film. That wasn't the case here. The film lacks in surprise and the ending relies on a lot of chance and coincidence. It's far from perfect, but it is very solid and a worthy 7/10.

I loved the Labor Day script. I read it a few months ago and while I had doubts about the concept and Jason Reitman at first, it ended up winning me over within pages. Maybe it's because it was written with such wit and tenderness, but it's a human story that truly flows with the emotion delivering the images and intimacy required to express its ideas, dancing just above sentimentality. Although its story is slight, it was satisfying and very rich, taking a situation I'm surprised it hasn't been explored in a more popular film and hitting major themes of family structures and cycles of life. It truly disappoints me to hear that people are not only disliking it, but hating it. It feels like it's being approached from the worst perspective, bracing themselves to cringe. I'm not exactly a Reitman fan either. I think Juno is terrible and it took a rewatch to fall in love with Up In The Air after thinking it was mediocre the first time.

While Labor Day may be far from Reitman's regular tone, in execution it instead highlights his style of energetic and creative cinematography and editing. Like the effect of the script, you can feel the heat and taste the food. Surprisingly, as it's a particularly challenging role given that these types of performances usually struggle, our kid protagonist Gattlin Griffith holds his own among the cast. Kate Winslet is reliably great. These characters seem to be her comfort zone and she's certainly perfected her craft, but we don't often enter her headspace. However, the real standout is Josh Brolin. His performance is the epitome of less-is-more and sells his complex character perfectly. Sinister and cold, yet deep and sensual. The idea that he's doing all the mundane things he hasn't been able to do in decades brings simple delights. It's the measured moments where he cracks that show the breadth of his performance as he breaks down the stereotype of a convict.

Unfortunately, some characters don't work very well, such as kid actors Barry and Eleanor who don't have the conviction to make their scenes work. The flashbacks to Frank's past don't have the same effect as the script despite the eerily similar looking young actor, as they're more confusing than clarifying. Contrary to common complaint, this is not like a lifetime movie. I happened to have watched some recently and they're more concerned with twists and insanity, instead Labor Day is closer to a 1950s domestic melodrama. Think more Far From Heaven than anything. I have a little bias as to how much I like this film, but I walked into the script blind too. Though it need not have had the orchestra swell during the on-the-nose summary lines about what the film's events mean to the characters, Labor Day's emotional punch of two souls bonded by tragic pasts still breaks my heart. I'm just glad Tobey Maguire helped rather than hurt.

8/10

"Labor Day" takes some highly improbable material and somehow makes it work - up to a point, at least.

In fact, it's kind of hard to know exactly what to make of "Labor Day" at first blush. The movie, based on the novel by Joyce Maynard, tells the tale of a love- and sex-starved single mother (Kate Winslet) who falls in love with the "dreamy" escaped convict (Josh Brolin) who's holding her and her 13-year-old son (Gattlin Griffith) hostage in their rural home on Labor Day weekend 1987. For about the first 45 minutes or so, the movie actually seems to be endorsing the rather insulting romantic premise that all an attractive young woman needs to spice up her life is a gutter-cleaning, pie-making, baseball-instructing, son-loving man to come along and sweep her off her feet -.criminal background be damned. But as the focus of our attention shifts from the two unlikely lovers and onto the son who's observing and ultimately commenting on this bizarre situation, the movie deepens into an off-beat and thought-provoking look into the complexities of human nature and of familial relationships (Tobey Maguire provides the narration as the grown-up Henry and makes a brief appearance later in the movie).

Winslet, Brolin and Griffith all give remarkable performances, as do Robert Clark Gregg and James Van Der Beek in supporting roles. Jason Reitman's moody screenplay and muted direction achieve a dreamy, almost hallucinatory quality that transports the tale to the realm of allegory or fable, where credibility doesn't play quite so crucial a role in our overall appreciation of it (a young girl's noting the parallels between what's happening here and the highly fictionalized and romanticized "Bonnie and Clyde" puts the theme into sharp focus).

The movie constantly blurs the line between good and evil, and makes it clear that most things are never quite as clear-cut or as black-and- white as people choose to believe they are, especially when it comes to affairs of the heart.

It's a shame that, after all this, the authors just couldn't resist tacking on a Lifetime Channel-like coda that indulges in all the dime- novel slickery and sentimentality that they've admirably managed to avoid for most of the movie up to that point. Still, "Labor Day" largely triumphs over its potentially troublesome material with its quality performances and direction.

Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin star in "Labor Day," a 2013 film directed by Jason Reitman and also starring Gattlin Griffith and Toby McGuire.

Winslet plays Adele, a divorced woman who has never really recovered from being alone; her husband has remarried, and she lives in a ramshackle house whose interior speaks of her depression. It's a mess, with stuff all over the place. She lives there were her little boy Henry (Griffith). One day, while they're out shopping, Henry meets Frank (Josh Brolin) who asks for a ride. When Henry tells his mother they're giving him a ride, she politely refuses. Frank insists, and sits in the back with Henry. When Adele asks him where he wants to go, he says, "your house." Frank is an escaped convict, and everyone is looking for him. So it doesn't look like they abetted him, he ties Adele and Henry up, planning to leave that evening.

This movie is a great example of how a totally predictable story where not much happens can still be a wonderful film and a work of art - in fact, more of a work of art because it is so predictable and yet manages to hold interest. It's the story of family, of hope, and of love. Both Winslet and Brolin act with incredible sensitivity, and Griffith is adorable as Henry, a good kid who sees his mother's unhappiness and doesn't know how to help her.

It's a sentimental film, but I didn't mind (well, I wouldn't anyway, but I think even people who don't like sentimentalism won't mind it). I found it totally satisfying and romantic, and wasn't at all surprised to hear it's opening on Christmas Day. There is room for all types of films - this is not a huge blockbuster, just a sweet story that fits in well with the spirit of the holidays.

A mesmerizing story displayed through magical storytelling. Hard to digest but watch it through a romantic heart, it's a treat to watch. Well acted by all involved except the missing father. Others have done a pretty good job. The story has good twists and plots and it doesn't become predictable except at a few places.

The movie is a romantic story between two unlikely characters who find love at an odd situation when nothing seems to be working for them. They are unlikely to fall in love but as they both are die hard romantics, they seize the chance life has thrown at them. And do it full justice even though their love is tested through time.

A sweet little love story with a twist. True love can happen in a weekend. So it seems. 😍

'Labor Day' begins in a broken American household. After his parents' divorce, a sensitive seventh-grader chooses to stay with his depressed mother rather than join his father's new family. Henry and Adele remain trapped in a sad, dysfunctional relationship as a child parenting a traumatized adult until they embark on a fateful shopping trip prior to a holiday weekend. They are accosted in a discount store by a threatening stranger, Frank, who demands they give him a ride in their car, and accompanies them to their dilapidated rural home. By the next morning it's apparent he's a dangerous escaped convict, and his departure has become impossible since a police dragnet has surrounded the area.

After this disturbing first act, the film soon leaves 'Desperate Hours/Straw Dogs' territory in the rear view mirror and enters a sunlit world similar to 'The Bridges of Madison County'. Frank confounds pessimistic expectations by coaching Henry in baseball skills, doing various household odd-jobs, servicing the car and baking peach pies. Before too long he's also healing Adele's aching loneliness with his peachy massage techniques. Fine performances from the three lead actors hold the film together, but can't prevent the story's drift into sentimentality and implausibility. The epilogue stretches any remaining credulity beyond belief as it panders to the feel-good requirements of a rich box-office harvest.