THE STORY – A brother and sister discover a dead body in their parents’ basement.
THE CAST – Josh Gad, Kaya Scodelario, Billie Lourd, Alex Winter & Anthony Carrigan
THE TEAM – Alex Winter (Director) & Michael M.B. Galvin (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 97 Minutes
lex Winter, forever doomed in this timeline to be thought of as Bill of “Excellent Adventure” fame, directs Michael M.B. Galvin’s story of siblings forced to confront the crimes of their family’s past while managing to create more than their share of mayhem themselves. Winter directs with a sharp sense of irony, leaning into the absurd with a playful energy that often teeters between morbid satire and slapstick chaos, ensuring the film always feels just a little off-kilter.
Noah (Josh Gad), a failed screenwriter trying to make a go in Los Angeles, returns home when his mother, under the not-so-watchful eye of a live-in caregiver (Billie Lourd), is hospitalized after suffering a stroke. Along with Noah’s sister Megan (Kaya Scodelario), the two come to terms with the strained relationship they had with their mother, and go about settling the state of her cluttered home.
In the basement, they find Noah’s belongings moldy and strewn about, an unattended and leaky water tank ruining the Pokémon cards and comic book detritus that the Alamo Drafthouse shirt-wearing Noah had roughly stored without taking the obvious step of shelving rather than scattering. When Megan pries at one of the crumbling plasterboards on one of the soaked walls, a wrapped body emerges, setting the film’s plot truly in motion.
From here, the kids are set on a mission to protect their parents from their apparent misdeeds, but soon the sins of the father and mother descend on the younger generation. Misstep after misstep follows, as the suburban local descends into a hellish cycle of violence and retribution, with each attempt to clean up the mess fractalizing into further and further despondency. The spiraling escalation of their mistakes, paired with the film’s gleeful embrace of absurdity, creates a manic rhythm that’s equal parts frustrating and perversely entertaining.
The result is a slight yet decidedly goofy black comedy, marked by enough violence and mayhem to keep it interesting, but still falling short through its predictable turns and superfluous meanderings. While Megan’s family lifestyle and Facebook Marketplace employment are meant to give her character more depth, the end result feels like all these things are tacked on, especially with the ease with which the concerns are abandoned when narratively convenient or raised when a small amount of empathy is required to be generated.
And while Anthony Carrigan delivers yet another delightfully sociopathic character, his knife-wielding turn as Meg and Noah’s cousin falls more on the silly side of the coin than the believably sadistic. This is hard stuff to get right tonally, and it’s in these broadly comic moments and bold action moves that the film sinks or swims, and for the most part, it doesn’t manage to float above water.
Similarly, Lourd’s manipulations feel less the work of a mastermind and more like someone just slightly more selfish and slightly less incompetent than those she’s blackmailing. Again, this could work exceptionally well, but the script expects much of the audience to believe in the momentum of the story, without any of these seemingly breathing and thinking individuals making dumbass decision after dumbass decision.
It may be faint praise, but it’s Gad that manages to shine the best here, likely due to the fact that the script gives him the most to work with. His dolt-like nature and haplessness feel the most real of any of them, and if there was anyone who would be thought of as the cause for all of this nonsense, it’s he who would be top of mind. While it’s a stretch to think of Megan going so far outside her comfort zone, the behaviour of Noah, right down to a sword battle fought with the grace of a schoolyard fight, is almost documentary-like compared to the other characters involved.
While the result is middling at best, there’s still enough here to recommend it. Seen with an appreciative audience, this film could be a lot of fun, and the macabre tale, with its “Twilight Zone”-like sense of irony, is clever enough, even if a bit ham-fisted. Who knows how “Adulthood” will age, but if you’re looking for a brisk bout of debauchery and family shenanigans, Alex Winter’s latest chilly tale may well be something to be warmed by.
