In this dramatic tale which weaves together redemption and true love. It may seem corny but the ideal in the movie is that of a soul mate and how even after losing it all, over and over again love can triumph. The movie get’s directly to the plot from the get go and end’s quickly as well. This does not understate the real depth of the movie as it plays for the rest of the hour.
Jason Reitman directs the film. His credits include “Up in the Air”, “Juno” and “Thank You for Smoking”. In order to avoid this review on the book to film adaptation from Joyce Maynard’s book sounding like a school report, I will leave the cross-references short. In general, the movies the director works on are not your usual blockbuster fare and seem to cater towards a certain group of people. This movie has appeal to almost anyone who has been in a family especially new age single mother homes. I had expected it to be sappy, however, I was pleased when the movie surprised me and kept me engrossed for the full two hours.
Josh Brolin plays rough character’s in many of his other films. He is allowed to exude his softer side with the cast of this movie. He hooks up with Kate Winslet’s character Adele and her son after escaping from a prison hospital bed. The movie takes place over one labor day weekend. Brolin’s character Frank is actually a warm-hearted person and this shows where we might expect most movies to go over the top with violence or action. We might expect stereo-typical scenes on a grander scale from this plot-line but it is luckily subdued in it’s relation to the book. The story plays straight and true while still often keeping us wondering what will happen next.
In one of the scenes Frank is forced to hold the boy back and it begs us to differ why Adele would put up with such treatment. As the movie plays out these questions are answered. The movie does not feel fake or contrived and as such grows on us in a particular way. Basically, there were two distinct paths the movie could have went South or North and regardless of what happens in the story it appears to be headed North at most times. What I mean to say is that the characters explore their relationships and can be seen healing bonds that were broken between them long ago.
The ending of the movie is not quite a cliffhanger so I will leave it up to you to see it when it comes out on DVD. All loose ends are tied up by the director by the finale which comes on fast. Like I said before this will not be a movie with any questions left for us to fill in at the end. The movie is narrated by the older voice of Henry the young son at certain points which skillfully weave into the story.
We don’t notice any difference in personality between the young and old versions of Henry even though physically Tobey Maguire does not look like Gattlin Griffin at all. This was one annoying part of the film which is common in many movies that span a long amount of time. It seems they replaced someone we knew personally(Maguire as the voice of the older Harry) with an outsider. We don’t notice that much because the older version of Henry is not on screen for very long.
We would recommend this movie to anyone who likes family drama’s, especially if you are from a single parent family. While we may not identify with the character’s, it is a wholesome movie that does not leave us hanging. Just to go out on a limb here I would say it would also be a good movie to watch for anyone who is into self-help books.
