It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

An Exercise In Nonsense

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I'll give the makers credit for a fairly original setting. It's a household with a house-husband, a retired actor father, a little boy, a black male buddy of the father, and a kooky, free-spirited sister in Venice Beach, California. The lead is an environmental lawyer.Well, movie people write about stuff they can relate to. These characters are Godless, artistic, environmentally concerned, and unconventional. The viewer in Central Nebraska may not relate to them, but some of the themes are supposed to transcend setting.Of course Venice never looked so good. The family lives on a quiet street and roams the area in peaceful bliss. In reality, that place is filled with homeless, druggies, gangs, and barflies. But the way it was presented was quite pleasing.I like Chris Messina. He comes across as a thoughtful guy in his indie appearances, and also in this one as director and costar. The lead lady is beautiful when she has make up on, so guys will appreciate that. She can act too. Check out Final Destination 3. Don Johnson is excellent, and Chris Messina brings a gravitas to the screen.The kid actor was perfect as well. He didn't have gratuitous cutesy scenes or dialog. You felt his sincere confusion over the drama in the household. The wild sister could have overplayed her role, but she didn't. She hit the mark.As others have said, there could have been some more profound dialog about the meaning of life, but I thought the lead's closing argument in the court room scene was well-written. I also like the way they worked a Checkhov play into the story. It was supposed to parallel Don Johnson's character's predicament of growing old and being left behind.Black folks will appreciate a wonderfully understated performance by Derek Luke.Yes, I would have preferred more background on everyone. Where is Don Johnson's wife? Does the painter husband make a living? How did the lead get so involved with the environment? Give us a tad more about the sister. There was some attempt to explain her, but not enough.How did Derek Luke's character make his initial money? There is also a small role played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. She looks great for her age. Almost the same as she did 30 years ago, although slightly heavier.I'm glad they did not bombard us with an obnoxious soundtrack. Most of the background music is just a dramatic one-note hum to increase the feeling of intensity.All in all, not a bad picture if you simply accept the fact that it's about people who some of us may not relate to. The performances are sensitive, gentle, and understated. The atmosphere is appealing, and the attempt to make some sense out of the chaos of changing lives was adequate if not memorable.

This is a story about a married couple that have started to grow apart. He is a struggling artist and she is a young high-powered lawyer working for a firm. As a result of their paths she mostly works, often long hours and some weekends while he mostly takes care of the house and their son. It is a role-reversal. But one day he realizes that he isn't happy where all this is taking him so he decides he has to leave. For an unspecified time. Their son says he is gone to Santa Fe, where lots of artsy types hang out.This is all complicated by her dad, late 60s or early 70s, living with them and who it seems is developing dementia.Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Alex and her husband is Chris Messina, who also directs, as George. The dad is Don Johnson, actually about 65, as Roger, who gets a part locally in a play but seems to be having trouble remembering his lines.All of these people have issues but they each seem to care about the others, they just don't always know what is a proper way to deal with everything.There is not an "everyone lives happily" resolution here but each character learns something that will surely make the rest of their lives turn out differently.We saw this on Netflix streaming movies.

Chris Messina's directorial debut is an insightful look at thirty somethings at the level of of crisis Checkhov penned in his final play, THE CHERRY ORCHARD. The tight ensemble cast is led by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Don Johnson, Katie Nera and Skylar Gartner, Messina giving himself principal cast status without much on screen time. Winstead plays a thirty something environmental lawyer prosecuting a lawsuit which many viewers of the film get the impression has nowhere to go. Her dysfunctional family includes a father losing it trying to get a part in a production of THE CHERRY ORCHARD, a ditzy sister who tries to help but makes things worse, an unhappy husband who leaves without explanation or or warning and a ten year old son who at first feels crushed but eventually figures out all of us go through crises in our lives and the stronger we are to surmount them the better our lives will become. Odd philosophical truth to assign a ten year old character but always fascinating even the eighty or so minutes between opening and final credits and the often single camera editing working well.

My first ever review here. I will be brief.The leading lady had some character flaws that should have been given to the husband.The husbands role was not believable. After 10+ years of marriage he said he isn't happy, then leaves the next day! Give me a break!I mean, she is a practicing lawyer. She should know that drugs could ruin here career as a lawyer. A drug conviction can even keep you from being a teacher, let alone a lawyer. She ends up sleeping with a man she is fighting in court (ethics violation)! Not to mention she has not been legally separated or divorced from her current husband.Both the wife and husband wear their wedding rings in the entire movie. Even thought the husband left on his own and didn't want to keep the marriage going at the end. He was the one that left the next day, he would have known he wasn't returning. The husband left because they/he grew apart? It seems it would have been more likely that the husband would have had the affair, drugs and thrown out of the house.I couldn't watch all of it, then just kept skipping ahead to the end.I was disappointed, kind of like in Avatar when they flew down on top of the ships instead of just throwing rocks in to the ships vertical rotor blades!!! The father has the climatic fall, seems to have altimeters, then has all his lines in the play in the end, go figure!Liked the leading lady though.