People Like Us

PEOPLE LIKE US

The surprise sleeper hit of the summer

You won't be so happy when the credits roll. Photo by Heather.

2012, Drama, Rated PG-13

Distributed by Touchstone Pictures

          People Like Us is an incredibly melodramatic movie. There are many plot turns that come up in soap operas as well. Fortunately for the film, it's a film, with a competent cast and director, and a script that screams for Oscar attention. It's partially based on writer/director Alex Kurtzman's life. He found out when he was in his thirties that he had a sister that he never knew about. He then built a story around that concept and experience, and now we have the excellent tear-jerker People Like Us.

          This movie has the power of a whirlpool. It sucks you right in and drowns you in its story, creating empathy for all of its characters. It is essentially about a man named Sam who flies home for his father's funeral. His father was a very wealthy and popular record producer who never had any time for his family. Sam is somewhat bitter about all that. Then he learns that his father's will demands that he take $150,000 in cash and deliver it to his 30-year-old alcoholic sister that he never knew he had. Sam just cut a bad business deal and is in heaps of debt. He really needs that money. All Daddy left for him was his record collection. So he heads off to find out about this sister, learns that she has a troubled 11-year-old son, and was part of his father's "second family." He spends the rest of the movie getting to know this sister without telling her about the money, which she also needs but claims would never take because her father abandoned her and her mother. It's a very complicated story and one that unfolds over a span of two hours. I'm trivializing it here. It is deep, involving, and incredibly emotional.

          Sam is played by Chris Pine, an excellent actor in films like J.J. Abrams' Star Trek and Tony Scott's Unstoppable. He does an fine job in this film. He is the center of the whole story so he carries a lot on his shoulders but pulls it off wonderfully. The only thing I may not have liked about this movie was how Sam waits so long to tell Frankie that they are siblings. The movie is cumbersome as it is at two hours, so I felt he maybe could have sped things up a bit (that's part of the suspense though, because he could take the money for himself). But the whole plot is so complicated and intricate that everything falls into place where and when it should. Elizabeth Banks plays Frankie, the half sister of Sam and mother of the troubled Josh. I was dreading her entrance into the film because everything was so good up until she came on screen. I didn't think she would fit nicely in a dramatic movie like this. I dreaded for nothing. She does an amazing job portraying a strong but struggling single mother. She seems dumb and flaky until she gets in a room with the principle of Josh's school after he blows up the pool and deflects the possibility of expulsion through intelligence and wit. The boy who plays Josh, Michael Hall D'Addario, was also superb. Everyone turned in perfect performances. Jon Favreau, Olivia Wilde, and Michele Pfeiffer also play excellent supporting roles. 

          The end of this movie, when all is said and done, throws one final punch at the audience. The whole movie is emotional and puts the viewer on the verge of tears. Everyone in the movie is a product of the selfishness and ignorance of Sam's father. Not everyone, especially Sam's father, in this film are good people. That's one thing I liked about it. Characters aren't inherently good like in most movies. Everyone makes bad choices and suffers for them, just like real people. In the last five minutes of the film we get a glimpse into who Sam's father really was and how he truly tried to please both of his families. There is one final moment that put me to tears. I can't even allude to what it is but I haven't cried so hard in a film in my whole life. They were happy tears though, so don't worry, the payoff of this film is totally worth it! Go see it. You will not regret it.

          Side note: I saw two girls about my age come into the mostly empty theater and thought, I wonder why they aren't seeing Magic Mike. When People Like Us ended I saw them again and realized that they must have been blown away like I was at how phenomenal this film is. Magic Mike was awesome but honestly, People Like Us is an amazing film, and much better than Mike.