C Plus Pictures, La Pistola, Attic Light Films,
Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, Joshua Harto, David Lambert

Leigh (Kristen Bell) was her school valedictorian and had a job in the city as a reporter, but she’s not happy. She decided to throw in the towel and move back home with her parents. She doesn’t fit in very well, and it causes a lot of friction, but she takes her old job as a lifeguard at the pool, and starts up a relationship with a young boy that threatens to blow the whole family, and perhaps the whole town apart.
Leigh is afraid to grow up. It’s that simple. Being born female, she has the option of blowing off her career and her adult life and returning to her childhood. It’s clear her family is not too happy about her returning home, but she really doesn’t care. The fact that she starts hanging out with teenagers and trying to relive her childhood days is also a bit off putting. I couldn’t find any sympathy for this character, nor could I deal with her behavior. She needs to grow up. This is one of those movies that seems to just show us the everyday life of some characters without any resolution or judgement of any kind. Sometimes we like our movies to have a point. This really doesn’t. It’s just what it is. I agree with others that Kristen Bell nailed the character, but for what purpose? The time spent watching this could have been just as well spent watching the clothes spin around in the dryer. I didn’t absolutely hate this, but I didn’t care for it very much. To be honest, I really disliked Leigh, and felt like she deserved what she got, and much more. There are days when we’d all like to chuck it in and go back home again, but we don’t do it. We have mortgages and bills and taxes and families to care for, so we keep on getting up and going to work. This is life, and this romanticizing going back to relive your childhood is not very attractive. Leigh needs to grow up.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
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Everest Entertainment, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Groundswell Productions
Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Alex Shaffer, Margo Martindale, David W. Thompson

Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) is a part time wrestling coach and a down on his luck lawyer. Business is bad, and he’s in financial trouble. But Mike is hiding it from his wife. One of his only clients is an elderly man whose about to be made ward of the state and sent to a nursing home, but it turns out he has a lot of money. Mike’s idea is to become guardian of the man, and keep the money provided in his role of guardian. But suddenly Leo’s (Burt Young) grandson shows up, and it turns out he’s a great wrestler. Mike thinks it’s the perfect situation where he can also take in the grandson, keep the old man’s money, and put the grandson on the wrestling team, keep the office open, and his wife will be none the wiser. That is until the old man’s daughter, fresh out of rehab suddenly arrives to derail everything.
I’m getting to be a big fan of Paul Giamatti. In fact, ever since I first saw him as “Pig Virus” in the Howard Stern film “Private Parts” I’ve been a fan. But he seems to get better and better appearing in very quirky films. This is one of those. Mike is a nice guy, who’s trying to keep everything rolling. But he’s taking advantage of everyone in the process and being dishonest to everyone. Mike’s got to take a good look at his flaws and decide if it’s worth the effort to clean up his life. But at the same time, it’s really funny. There is such humor in Paul’s character. Everybody here has an agenda, and the interplay between the two assistant coaches is hilarious. Also Leo and his Mom Cleo (played brilliantly by Melanie Lynskey) are really good. Leo hates his mom because she’s never been there for him, and loved her drugs and drinks more. Now she’s still in it for herself. It’s a twisted feel good film, and is strong in values, but the mix of comedy makes it really unique. Yes, it’s quirky, but very good. I really enjoyed this film, and so it’s a Win-Win for the producers/actors, and the audience. 🙂
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