Review of Labor Day (2013) by Tom S — 05 Feb 2014

Swanner: It always seems odd to have an Oscar contender to come out so early in the year. Labor Day like Monuments Men was moved out of 2013 and in to 2014, I'm not sure why other than then the studio must have thought there were too many films coming out and it would get lost. Labor Day takes place in 1989 over the weekend before Labor Day when a young mother (Kate Winslet) and her son (Gattlin Griffith) harbor an escaped prisoner (Josh Brolin). Over the next 5 days secrets are revealed in this very slowly paced drama.

Judd: Oscar contender?!?!? Shirley, you jest! While the cast may be heavies and director, Jason Reitman, responsible for treasure Up In the Air and trash Juno, is also earning a name for himself, Labor Day suffers from an uneven script, fumbled direction and, worst of all, "stunt" casting of James Van Der Beek and Tobey Maguire. I and our screening audience were laughing for all the wrong reasons throughout the film's 111 minutes.

Swanner: Oddly enough Kate Winslet was nominated for Best Dramatic Actress at the Golden Globes for 2013. I'm not sure how that works when the film doesn't come out till the next year. Either way I liked the movie. My only really issue was with the pacing. I know the baking of the pie is important but I've seen Paula Dean take less time to make a pie. I think a lot of that is because they had to tell us what day it was with a graphic on the screen. Knowing the film's title I would have figured Labor Day would be the end...it wasn't and when Tuesday popped up I was livid.

Judd: Ugh, the pie scene. If only they had been making the pie in the rain, droplets of water dripping from their hair, clothes clinging suggestively, it would have become a Nicholas Sparks movie. Really, that is what was wrong with the whole thing. It wants to be an artsy love story, when it was nothing more than a tarted up Harlequin romance. The falsely accused bad boy rescues the sad and lonely single mother who's given up on life and love. It's surprising she was a divorcee and not a poor widow, struggling to survive after the tragic loss of her husband who was killed in a thresher accident.

Swanner: The film is based on the novel by Joyce Maynard and unfortunately I haven't read it so I can't tell if the snail pacing was her or Jason Reitman who also wrote the script. Like I said I liked the film. I thought the acting was great but a better edit job would have helped the film.

Judd: Sad housewives caught in loveless marriages and lonely spinsters are going to flock to Labor Day like it was a box full of free kittens. Kate Winslet gives a great performance in brown and Josh Brolin does his best as the hero who can clean, dance, fix the car and make pie. He probably also loves to perform cunnilingus for as long as it takes and never asks for a return. It's a shame he's a murderer, but none of us is perfect. The slow pacing won't matter to the target audience; to them it means the longer they get to escape the desolate tomb they call home.

Swanner: ** 1/2.

Judd: *.