People Like Us

Depending on how one reads the title of the film I watched yesterday, either people share traits in common that make them similar/like one another or they are "liked" by others, as opposed to disliked. I'm not sure which interpretation applies to the film starring Michelle Pfeiffer (Mom), Chris Pine (Sam, the son), Elizabeth Banks (Frankie, the sister), and the most obnoxious child character in a really, really long time, Michael Hall D'Addario (the nephew). I did not like any of these characters at all, but most especially the Mom, Sam, and the obnoxious nephew, and I truly hope that I am not like any of them as that would mean I have a whole world of apologizing to do to atone for being such an ass.

The story has a good premise, sort of, with the philandering music mogul dying with unresolved issues that include another family, other than the one grieving his passing in public. Pfeiffer knows that her dead husband had a child with another woman, and that daughter now has a child, the obnoxious 11-year-old who blows up a swimming pool and attacks two other kids with a large textbook, but who's such a "good kid" and just needs to resolve his personal issues. Sam hates his dad because the music mogul was such an absent asshole during Sam's formative years. Mom finally admits that she gave her husband a choice, and once he chose her and Sam, she put that truth behind her and moved on. Problem solved until Dad dies and leaves a shaving kit with $150k and a note for his son, Sam, to deliver the money to a woman he comes to realize is his half-sister: she has dad's eyes.

But therein also lies a problem because Chris Pine is incredibly good looking, and so is Elizabeth Banks. They are also both single adults in the film, so when Sam makes himself part of Frankie's life, it is natural for her (and the audience) to assume that he's a single man becoming a significant part of her life in a romantic/sexual way, and he comes onto her "that way" for most of the movie. He has so many openings to be honest with her, but, because it's a movie, that part is strung out until it becomes unbelievably cruel. I am surprised that when Sam comes back to Frankie and her son at the end of the film, she accepts him back into her life. Some things you just don't forgive, forget, and move on.

The movie drags the story out far too long, which made it hard to stay until the inevitable ending. There is no conflict, no drama, just the feeling of really? He's going to play it that way? Sam, who alienates every single person in his life, has his personal epiphany and not just gets his mom back, but also gets his girlfriend back, as well as his half-sister and his nephew. No one else gets much of anything, so ... so what? who cares?