Director: Alex Kurtzman
Genre: Drama
Rating: B
The basic plot of People Like Us,
at least as told by the film’s trailer, is one that I feel like I’ve seen
before – heck, it’s one that I feel like I’ve seen several times. I’m not certain what it says about me and the
movies that I watch, but I suspect that it’s a lot. Fortunately, however, the movie is a lot more
than just what its trailer presents, and in that I was thoroughly
satisfied. There is a lot that is rather
typical of movies of this genre, but it feels like it’s been put together in a
new way and the film succeeds in avoiding being predictable. While People
Like Us does have its shortcomings, I found it to be a really enjoyable
movie.
Following a failed business deal, Sam (Pine) is threatened with an
investigation from the FTC – the only way to avoid it is to bribe an FTC
official with a new deck for his home.
Before Sam can begin to complete the deal to get the needed materials,
however, he discovers that his father has died and he must travel to L.A. for
the funeral – something which he rather desperately tries to avoid doing,
resulting in the two of them missing the actual service. It becomes quickly apparent that Sam had a
great deal of issues with his father, who he views as having essentially been a
negligent jackass, however he does hope that he might inherit a sum of money
which will help to get him out of debt.
He doesn’t, however; instead he inherits his father’s sizeable record
collection and is tasked with delivering a shaving kit full of money to
eleven-year-old Josh (D’Addario), Sam’s previously unknown nephew. Sam embarks on a mission to get to know his
half-sister Frankie (Banks) and Josh, while straining his already tenuous
relationship with his mother Lillian (Pfeiffer), potentially ruining his
relationship with his girlfriend Hannah (Wilde), and is repeatedly summoned by
his work and the FTC.
My one big problem with People
Like Us is the whole FTC subplot. I
don’t object to it on principle, I just can’t help but feel that the movie didn’t
really explore it. The whole subplot of
Sam’s job, debt, and impending legal troubles were all interesting but only
briefly mentioned. It’s like a great
Greek drama; all the action in that regards takes place off screen, and Sam
never really seems to deal with the consequences. As the film is wrapping up, this whole plot
kind of looms over things, a forgotten thread.
The problems with Hannah are similarly treated, but in the end I felt
this was pretty well handled. The whole surprise
half-sister plot, however, is handled far better, as is the exploration of Sam’s
relationship with his parents. I
especially loved the way that Pfeiffer portrayed Lillian, from the character’s
mannerisms to the sheer expression of emotion.
It’s clear that a lot of thought was put into her, as well as the other
characters, and I loved how Pfeiffer appears as this dishevelled, unglamorous,
mourning woman. She really showed a
vulnerability in this role, as did Banks.
My two favourite characters in this movie were Lillian and Frankie, who
were these strong and yet vulnerable women.
The character that I didn’t really like was Josh, played by newcomer D’Addario. I don’t think the actual portrayal was bad, I
just didn’t like the kid in general. I
found him to be this rude, obnoxious little brat and spent a lot of the movie
hoping that someone would slap him for his attitude – that and give him a
haircut. I also really wanted someone to
slap Sam for his attitude and the way that he treated the people in his
life. There was a lot about him that
made me think that he was more like his father than he realized. That having been said, I really did enjoy the
journey that the movie took. I might
have focused more on the negatives in this review, but it was a good movie,
with a good journey. It told an
interesting story and it made you root for the characters. I didn’t want Sam and Josh to get slapped
because I hated them, I wanted them to be slapped because I was certain that they
were good people who just needed some sense knocked into them. I was really happy with the way that the film
ended too; with the exception of the FTC subplot I felt like things had been
nicely wrapped up.
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