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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

People Like Us (2012)

This movie has some pretty significant imperfections in the timing of
the disclosure of information from one character to another, but there
are some things to ponder in here that are worth thinking about.

The basic plot is that Sam (Chris Pine) is wheeler dealer who is
deeply in debt and has another crisis with an untold price tag
looming.  As his latest crisis unfolds, he is informed that his father
has died.  Instead of being heart broken, he tries to find ways to
avoid going to the funeral or even talking about why his feelings are
so constricted--not to his girlfriend, Hannah (who seems way to nice
to be wrapped up in Sam's drama), or his mother (Michelle Pfieffer),
who has some serious anger issues towards Sam.

Despite all his efforts, Sam arrives back at his ancestral home and
the news just keeps getting worse.  His father has left him no money,
which he desperately needs.  He does inherit his father's album
collection, which is prodigious and does seem to have the intended
benefit of thawing his hardened heart.

Then comes the big blow--his father's lawyer hands him a shaving kit
bag filled with a larger amount of cash--not for him, but for him to
give to his previously unknown half sister--who has a son, so he has a
nephew.  His technique for figuring out what to do with the money is
very flawed--but the consequences of a father not being involved in
the life of his child is the stark underlying message.  Sam is the
child who had his father and Frankie is the child who didn't.  The
fact that their father cannot be a father to them both left him poorly
equipped to be a father to either of them.  Complex family issues that
are handled in a very interesting way.

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