Movies like this . . . you’ve seen them before.
The H-Bomb: Sam (Chris Pine) returns home to L.A. after his father, a fairly successful music producer, dies of cancer. Sam was never particularly close to his dad, in fact, he bolted for the opposite coast as soon as he was old enough. So, imagine Sam’s surprise when his father’s lawyer (an ancient Philip Baker Hall) hands him an old shaving kit full of cash, $150,000, to be exact, with the written instructions to deliver it to a boy named Josh (Michael Hall D’Addario), the son of Sam’s illegitimate half-sister, Frankie (Elizabeth Banks), who Sam never even knew existed.
Being that Sam is a less-than-ethical businessman, who has financial problems back home that are about to become legal problems, he considers pocketing the money. But, his conscience gets the better of him, and he decides that he will give it over to them . . . eventually. However, we wouldn’t have much of a movie if Sam just walked up to Frankie and Josh, introduced himself, and handed them the money, so instead he takes the creepy stalker route of getting to know them by following them around.
From this, he gets to learn quite a bit about this dynamic mother and son duo. Frankie is a recovering alcoholic who is in the twelve step program and works nights at a swanky hotel bar. Josh is a pesky little smart-ass with girly emo hair who is constantly getting into trouble at school. His latest stunt: literally blowing up the pool at his school. So, after seeing what stable people his new sister and nephew are not, Sam decides to insert himself into their lives in a very roundabout way; getting to know them without telling them who he is.
After a few “chance” meetings with Frankie, Sam wins her trust as he spends serious quality time with her and Josh. But eventually, as he becomes more and more of a father figure to the boy, Sam realizes that he really likes his newly discovered kin, which will make it much more difficult for him to finally break the truth to them, particularly when Frankie starts to question his motives. So it goes . . .
People Like Us is directed by Alex Kurtzman, from a script by Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jody Lambert. If the names Kurtzman and Orci look familiar to you, it’s because they’re the writing team behind a number of recent blockbusters, including the Transformers’ trilogy, Cowboys & Aliens, as well as J.J. Abrams’ fantastic Star Trek reboot. Seems odd to me, that Kurtzman would choose something this non-genre and this . . . vanilla, as his directing debut, but I suppose we all have to start somewhere.
Basically, People Like Us is a romantic comedy that follows the formula right down to the letter, except that there is no romance, though there is the creepy threat of romance since Frankie starts to look at Sam as a possible love interest. Fortunately, for us, such ickiness is averted. What’s also fortunate for us is that Kurtzman, Orci, and Lambert did manage to fill their rather familiar scenario with characters who turned out to be fairly fleshed out, interesting, who are all far more complicated, and conflicted, than they initially appear, as well as dialogue that is sharper and smarter than usual, preventing things from turning into an overly sentimental sap-fest. That is mucho appreciated.
The entire cast does well, particularly Pine and Banks in the leads. Pine’s Sam is a total douche in the beginning, but he makes the guy relatable enough that we don’t hate his guts entirely, and he does manage to redeem himself by the film’s end. I’ve said in a previous review that I’m not much of a Banks fan, but she is gradually winning me over. She really nails it as the struggling, exasperated, but strong-willed single mom, and I’d say she gives the movie’s best performance.
It was nice seeing Michelle Pfeiffer as Sam’s feisty mother, since this is the first time I’ve seen her in ages, but a subplot involving her health problems felt half-hearted and tacked on. Olivia Wilde makes a lot out of her relatively small role as Hannah, Sam’s goodhearted girlfriend who walks out on him in disgust early in the picture, and the young D’Addario is great as Josh, though half the time I really wanted to smack him over the head, partly because he’s a little wise-ass, and partly because of that Goddamn haircut of his. I felt a sting in my eyes every time I saw it!
But, on to more important matters, while the first rate performances and the clever writing did make this considerably more enjoyable than others of its kind, something (aside from the kid’s hair) kept nagging at me throughout. This is one of those movies where one character keeps a secret from another character for most of the story, and in this case, I just didn’t get why. Why didn’t Sam, once he made his decision about the money, just come right out and tell Frankie who he was and what he wanted? Like I said, I guess there wouldn’t have been much of a movie if he had, but it really annoyed the piss out of me, nonetheless.
That gripe aside, People Like Us is a perfectly decent, if not exactly great or groundbreaking, chick-flickie type of flick. If you find yourself craving any kind of counter-programming to the onslaught of Sci-Fi and superhero movies that will be descending upon us in the Summer months, then you won’t regret spending the money on a ticket. Otherwise, as I often say with flicks such as these, wait for the DVD.
