Review of People Like Us (2012) by Ryan H — 07 Aug 2012

For a film that had the possibility of delivering a powerful emotional response, this film's pretty forgettable. However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy what I saw (minus the last act until the last 5 minutes).

Alex Kurtzman shouldn't be relying on his inspirations of JJ Abrams, Michael Bay, and Jon Favreau for his character drama. I got a headache because of all the cutting and fast pace. It needed to be slowed down.

Let the audience feel something. You shouldn't just linger in the third act. And the editing choices were quite questionable more than just with the pacing. The one that sticks out the most is when Sam comes home and is told by Hannah that his father just died.

It's all done very well, even the look that Chris Pine gives when he's told and the way he delivers the line "what are you cooking?" which makes me question why they decided to cut over to Hannah and then cuts to the title.

The reaction we care about is his, not hers. She was there to deliver the information, but the scene was about him. Perhaps that's why the film's pretty forgettable: the focus doesn't really land where it should, which is why everything feels rushed.

It's trying to pace itself like an action/adventure film even though it's a drama about a guy whose father just died and he discovers he has a sister. The dialogue is written really well and I hardly felt like Kurtzman treated the audience like they were dumb.

Instead he treats them like they have short attention spans. Kurtzman gave plenty of shots to explain things instead of just having the characters say it all. I really liked that, especially in the very end with the movie camera.

We also get the chance to slowly understand what Sam's father was like and what his relationship was with him. It doesn't take long and I felt like it was revealed just right. But what's strange is that I don't remember much of the second act.

He slowly meets his sister and takes care of her and her son, then tells her who he is. That part of the story was pretty cliche and nothing special. The story of the guy who knows something and keeps it only to reveal it later and get the other character mad at him.

What I was interested in was the mom. I was really glad that Michelle Pfeiffer played Lillian instead of Meryl Streep. I felt Pfeiffer pulled everything off well and it was nice to see her in something decent for a change.

The characters are tough. Sam might be pretty predictable; the guy who runs away from his problems and has to learn to stay and face them. His saying sorry in the end to Hannah and her forgiving him so quickly didn't feel right, but again that was part of the third act, which I didn't like.

I really liked the introduction to Frankie and her ability to talk her son out of getting expelled. She's a strong independent woman who faces many struggles in her life. When I say tough characters I'm referring to Lillian and his father Jerry.

Lillian made Jerry choose between her family or the other, which is why he left Frankie and her mother at the age of 8. Jerry was always distant from Sam. But what we understand and might not agree with is that Lillian made Jerry choose because she wanted what was best for her family.

Sam doesn't agree and I doubt anyone would. Jerry was distant from Sam probably because of his desire to be with both of his children, which is represented by the video camera that showed her brought Sam to the same park on Sundays when Frankie and her mother had picnics.

He videotaped them and we see them actually play together as kids when Sam thought he was just listening to demos in the car. I think critics keep calling this an adult script because there are no easy answers for the characters and not everything's resolved.

There's also not much of a love story here. It's a story of family and loss, plus how to deal with your life when it's down so low. If only Kurtzman took his time with everything then it would have had more of an impact.

As it is, it's simply okay, but not anything amazing even though the cast works hard to make it better than it should be.