I appreciated this movie for the fact that the plot was fairly offbeat. I won't spoil the movie completely, but the premise of the conflict is not the typical "wife against spouse" or "cheating" or even "psycho nanny". The latter was what I thought the movie may entail, but that's definitely not the situation at hand.
Claire and Ollie are a really adorable power couple; Claire initially is seen as a stay-at-home mom, but we soon realize she is an established attorney who opted to stay home with her children. She has talent and skills that are now placed aside for her family, which tells you a lot about her personality - she is kind and caring.
The movie begins with two college students having fun at party, where drugs and booze are available. They opt into using drugs, Ollie being the leader with his very-buzzed girlfriend in tow. Steve is adorably a follower, easily coerced into taking the drugs his buddy just gave him for free. In the process, we see that Ollie is wealthy.
Things get pretty complex; a giant mishap renders both young men potentially damaged for life, but instead of rightfully accepting responsibility, Ollie allows Steve to take the fall.
Years pass, and they move on - one successful, the other not (guess which ones!). As you'll see, the payback takes shape with a bit of time and great persistence - causing havoc in the usually peaceful family life of Ollie and Claire.
I enjoyed Emily's character - it's easy to see that the actress herself loved playing this role, down to the carrot-munching scene toward the end.
Claire is an awesome character; you want to be her friend and it is easy to relate to her. Even Ollie is not what you may think; he has a huge heart and a sense of morality that is promising in this day and age, despite his mistakes.
If you were in this situation, how would you have handled it? It's an interesting question, because a lot of people would have done the same thing at such an immature time in their lives.
I would say there are some unexplored areas that would have been interesting. Why did Steve have such a low sense of self at his young age? Why did Ollie's obvious 'dismissal' from his clearly powerful dad NOT affect him more, as we usually see in the wake of examining our choices as adults?
How was it possible for Claire to just accept that Ollie's transgressions with her friend happened, instead of simply talking to Pam? And there is no way that most of us would look the other way if a house guest we hardly knew was found gazing and fondling our valuables.
There are a lot of other questions one could ask, but instead, just enjoy this movie if you can. It's pretty interesting, captivating, and easy on the eyes. (Their home is beautiful, even the little 'shack' that Emily and her Dad have is cute, and the children in the movie are adorable to boot. Would love to also know if "rude mom" got out of jail...)
Kudos to the cast!
