Great Film overall

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This is a rather strange movie with big stars. When it is all said and done the main theme seems to be 'out of bad comes good'. And near the end the narration contains 'We are the sum of all the people we ever meet. You change the tribe, and the tribe changes you.'The tribe reference is at two levels in this film. Anton Yelchin is Finn Earl, about to turn 16. His father is an anthropologist living with a native 'Fierce People' tribe far away, and he invites Finn to spend the summer with him there. But something happens, some petty trouble, that prevents that so he and his mom end up going to the large, 9000+ acre private property of a very wealthy man, where mom will be his personal masseuse.The second meaning of "tribe" in this film are the assorted family and hangers-on at the country property. Young Finn has experiences there which change him forever, and he changes the tribe.His mom is Diane Lane as Liz Earl. The very wealthy man is Donald Sutherland as Ogden C. Osborne. His grandson is Chris Evans as Bryce. And his granddaughter is Kristen Stewart as Maya. Maya and Finn are both 15 about to turn 16 (pretty close to their actual ages), and they become friends, maybe more than friends.The movie is pretty strange and most 'normal' viewers will not like it, but I enjoyed it for the novelty and a chance to see two actors (Yelchin and Stewart) in the early stages of their careers. SPOILERS: Bryce really is the bad guy in the 'tribe', early on he gets angry that grandpa "replaced him" by having Finn be his partner in a traditional family balloon race. Bryce retaliates by ambushing and sodomizing Finn one night. Bryce was hooded, but later via a cigarette lighter Finn realized it was him. Then even later Bryce, angry at his grandpa smothered and killed him with a pillow. Eventually all this fractured the 'tribe' and Finn and mom went back to New York, while Maya was bing sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. We feel they will stay in touch.

A brilliant and sensitive movie with interwoven plot lines. As a general warning, the movie turns quite dark about half way through. As sudden as it is, this is a change that I found fitting to the themes of the movie, particularly the comparison of the Ishkanani to the filthy rich, and (as is said by Finn at the end) how each person makes up the tribe, and how the whole tribe is reflected in each person.Anton Yelchin (Finn Earl) is spectacular in this movie. He is probably best known as Chekov from Star Trek or Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation, but he's been in a whole plethora of movies you've probably never heard of (Alpha Dog, which is another brilliant performance on Yelchin's part, House of D, Hearts in Atlantis, to name a few...) The point is that this kid really takes this movie and makes it his own. Other excellent performances from Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland are what takes this movie up a notch, from great to excellent.

I literally have no idea how to rate this movie. It comes in two halves, and I quite liked both of them, but the two halves belong to completely different films. Have you ever been driving down a quiet country road near your house, taken a left turn and suddenly found yourself in Helmand Province, Afghanistan? That's what this movie is like - there's a tonal shift around the halfway mark that's so jarring, so out of place with what's gone before, that it left me utterly dumbfounded, staring at the screen, saying over and over 'That didn't really happen, did it?'If I've got trouble with it, I can only take pity on the people who had to market this movie. It's a pretty light comedy for the first half - all wacky families, odd-but-cute kid taking his first steps towards manhood, that sort of thing, and it's all very well done. And at the centre of it all is Donald Sutherland, never better in the role of a patriarch who has made scads of money, but lost out in many other ways. It's light and frothy and amusing and - then. Then the event happens, and everything turns VERY dark indeed. The second half plays more like a socially conscious melodrama, with teenage pregnancy, class division and... other issues. It's good too, for what it is, but that seismic shift in the middle of the film makes it all pretty hard to stomach.So do I recommend this movie or not? Hell, I don't know. Both its parts are very good, but they add up to a baffling whole. I realize that that isn't necessarily very helpful, but you probably ought to be warned that this has been marketed as a comedy, and an enjoyable coming of age movie. That's true, but only up until the halfway mark...

Went to the premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC and I absolutely loved the film!!! I am Diane's #1 biggest fan and of course, as always, she gave a magnificent performance!! I have seen every single one of her movies and I must say that this is one of my new favorites. Diane was funny and moving and just took my breath away. Donald Sutherland was surprisingly humorous but also a good amount of serious. Anton Yelchin is just a wonderful young actor and gave an amazing performance. All in all, I recommend this film to anyone who can appreciate an excellent movie. 10 thumbs up!!! I would definitely go see it again and again and again. This is the best film of the year so far!!!