Based upon an extremely popular novel that was accurately deemed as impossible to translate from paper to screen when news of the production broke...Labor Day is the newest film from Jason Reitman, who based upon this attempt, should stick to his quirky mixes of drama and comedy such as Young Adult and Thank You For Smoking. This is an attempt at something new for the talented director that failed miserably and the misery of the production is more than passed onto the audience.
Starting with a simultaneously laughable and totally creepy opening scene in which a young boy named Henry (Gattlin Griffith) is narrating as an adult (in Tobey Maguire's voice) discussing the fact that he couldn't give her heartbroken mom, Adele (Kate Winslet) what she needed (a real man to be specific) and getting even worse from there....this is the sloppiest film in recent memory.
Okay...fine....there is more of a plot than that but not much. Henry, being the dumb kid he is, gets caught up in a situation in which escaped convict Frank (Josh Brolin) forces Adele to help him hide out. Frank then plans to catch the next train to a new town but it's a holiday weekend so he can't. Then...through a series of situations too laughable for me to even type..Frank and Adele end up falling for each other. Of course....this doesn't happen without the obligatory pie baking sequence (okay...that IS the funniest scene in recent memory.)
I may be making it sound like I actually kind of enjoyed but don't be mistaken....this is a long, dull, abnormally unexciting film. The main problem is that despite the fact that Frank just broke out of prison for a crime that he claims he didn't commit...the audience already has their mind made up about the fact that Frank is a deadbeat long before the mystery of whether or not he is has even begun. Therefore, the fact that Frank may or may not get caught by one of Adele's nosy neighbors doesn't provide any stakes. If he goes to jai...so be it. If he doesn't...Adele is equally as annoying so let them be together...they deserve each other. Also....Brolin and Winslet, great performers that they are, can't get over how laughable the idea is. All of these actors are obviously attempting to mold something from the weak premise they have. Even Griffith...good young actor that he is (one may remember him as the kidnapped son of Angelina Jolie in 2008's Changeling amongst other films) tries to give the audience something to root for. I can't blame the actors for the film at hand...it's the way that Reitman adapted the novel for the big screen (he both directed it and wrote the screenplay.) Be that as it may...even Reitman obviously tried....it's just not a doable film concept.
I would go so far as to say I hated Labor Day but then I wouldn't be giving the effort involved in making the film something more than it is its fair due. I will, however, go so far as to say that if it's 2 AM and you feel like getting to sleep...Labor Day will be just what you need.
(1 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for thematic material, brief violence and sexuality)
No comments:
Post a Comment