BEFORE: This time, Michelle Pfeiffer carries over from "Frankie and Johnny". I'm going to try my best to be coherent today, through a giant fog of cold medicine brain-haze.
THE PLOT: While settling his deceased father's estate, a salesman discovers he has a sister that he never knew about, leading both siblings to re-examine their perceptions about family and life choices.
AFTER: I'm going to have to charge this film with violation of the classic six-act structure. There's really just an introduction here, then a VERY long middle period where essentially nothing happens, and then a wrap-up. By all rights, this should have been a short film, since there's only about 20 minutes of plot to sustain a nearly 2-hour film. Please note that inactivity is not a proper substitute for character development.
You can easily spot this sort of delaying tactic when there is essentially one crucial piece of information that needs to be relayed from Person A to Person B, and for some reason or a variety of reasons, that information does not get spoken or transmitted in any fashion. Things keep cropping up - but in the real world, if there is one crucial piece of information that needs to be said, most of the time it gets said, and we deal with it (in either a good or bad way) and we move on.
What's worse is that this film commits the very same plot-non-developmental sin at least THREE times. Sam tracks down his half-sister, and he can't quite bring himself to tell her that he's her half-brother. He'll get a phone call, or he'll jump in his car and drive away (running away doesn't count as character development, either) or just change his mind every time an opportunity presents itself. There are several opportunities to confront his mother with the knowledge of his father's other family, and he can't quite bring himself to pull the trigger on that either. Meanwhile FTC investigators are leaving messages on his cell phone about the mishap he caused at work (he's employed by some sort of semi-legal bartering company and he found a way to violate some customs laws) and he KNOWS that he has to call these investigators back, yet he never gets around to it. So, what DOES he do all day?
Because of his inability to act, he finds himself working his way more and more into the life of his new half-sister and her son - but since he doesn't reveal his identity, the sister is slowly coming to depend on him, and the relationship starts to border on attraction. Soon this starts to have "bad idea" written all over it - plus, anyone can see that the longer he takes to tell her, the worse her reaction is going to be. So again, why all the delaying, delaying? It's not like there's some limited window on telling the truth, and if he misses it, he can't go back and make it right.
Beyond that, some pretty big coincidences/contrivances take place - Sam just HAPPENS to go to the one A.A. meeting where his sister discusses her feelings about her father? (Well, sort of, anyway, she only reveals a little bit, in what's probably the most confusing alcoholic confessional ever, for anyone not following along.) And NITPICK POINT: How could two people spend so much time together over the course of a few weeks without her ever learning his last name? Wouldn't that be something you learn about someone on the first day, or in the first couple days?
There is a nice pay-off at the end, but I'm left feeling like it just took too much time to get there.
Also starring Chris Pine (last seen in "For the Love of Spock"), Elizabeth Banks (last seen in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2"), Olivia Wilde (last seen in "Rush"), Mark Duplass (last seen in "Tammy"), Michael Hall D'Addario, Philip Baker Hall (last seen in "Bad Words"), Jon Favreau (last seen in "Spider-Man: Homecoming"), Sara Mornell,
RATING: 6 out of 10 maraschino cherries
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