THE STORY – Renn Wheeland returns home to Cleveland for his mother’s funeral. Once there, he forges new relationships while healing old ones before confronting his problems and trying to face his grief.
THE CAST – Nick Jonas, Matt Walsh, Brittany Snow, Alexandra Shipp, David Arquette & Elisabeth Shue
THE TEAM – Robert Schwartzman (Director) & Brett Ryland (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 96 Minutes
Movies about people returning to their hometowns and confronting tense familial relationships after a loved one’s passing are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. After seeing one or two of them, it feels like you’ve seen them all, especially when few decide to steer from the usual beats. Director Robert Schwartzman’s latest film, “The Good Half,” which follows a writer’s return to the Midwest following his mother’s death, is much like the many films that have come before it. It has a buzzy cast that might pique some people’s interest, especially with Nick Jonas’ return to acting, but don’t expect this story to go off the beaten path or pull you in emotionally.
Renn (Jonas) is a writer based in Los Angeles who, begrudgingly, has to pilgrimage back to Cleveland after the death of his mother, Lily (Elisabeth Shue, underutilized in this film in flashbacks). On the plane ride there, he has a meet-cute with therapist Zoey (Alexandra Shipp) – although, we’re not entirely sure if we can call it very cute, considering there’s a snoring guy sitting in between them. Their conversation doesn’t really get sparks flying (she asks him what he sees outside the window). Once Renn arrives home, the awkward and strained talks between him, his father Darren (Matt Walsh), and sister Leigh (Brittany Snow) ensue, along with even more tense moments with his stepfather Rick (David Arquette).
While Renn is the protagonist of this story, there’s not much that makes him a compelling character to follow, and given that we’ve seen this type of story so many times already, his lack of personality is even more egregious. Whenever he’s asked how he’s doing, he only says, “I’m fine,” with little or no additional information about his life. He also doesn’t want to talk about the big bad thing that happened with his mother. Sure, we can attribute the lack of response to his grieving, but it doesn’t make for very exciting action on screen or for him, a character that should pull us in emotionally.
There’s also not much insight into his writing prospects or what he wants to do with his career; it’s almost as if screenwriter Brett Ryland entirely forgot how he set up his main character. In particular, there’s a strange moment when Renn is speaking to his father. Darren, noticing that all the cliches he googled about loss and grief aren’t helping, says he should really be quoting Thoreau instead. “The woods guy?” Renn says. If it’s someone’s life goal to be a writer, it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t be familiar with Thoreau, much less refer to him as “the woods guy.” The few times we do see some personality from Renn are when he insists on making jokes about every weird moment related to death, like picking out the right casket, and Jonas gets to have some cheeky fun being a smart-ass. Otherwise, much like his character, he doesn’t leave much of an impression.
The supporting cast members bring more personality to the film, even though they’re vastly underutilized or cliched. Snow plays the passive-aggressive sister with a tough exterior but slowly breaks down her walls with Renn. Her stoic and sassy personality is fun to watch against Jonas’ unserious moments, especially when she gives him a piece of her mind at times, which is deserved. Walsh’s presence is always welcome as the loveable but clueless father, but he disappears too often in the film. Arquette plays the shady stepfather convincingly. Perhaps the most egregious misstep is with Shipp’s Zoey, who is a delight to see but is used so sparingly as Renn’s potential love interest. After their flight encounter, she’s only ever seen when Renn decides to meet her at bars, and we learn so little of her own story and struggles, which include finalizing a divorce. Even their budding romance is undercooked due to the few moments we see of them together, although Shipp and Jonas share cute chemistry on screen.
Despite its good intentions, “The Good Half” falls flat in hopes of luring in audiences emotionally as a family drama about grieving. It’s formulaic, cliched, and doesn’t do anything to make itself stand out from the host of other films on this topic. There are some good performances, but they alone don’t make this a must-watch movie.
