Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Toni Collette, Anne Farris, David Duchovny, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kathleen Turner, Ron Livingstone, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Danny Vinson, Gichi Gamba, Patricia French, Eric Esteban, Kim Baptiste, Billy Slaughter, Ronald Chavis.
The things we do for love are never as sincere or biased as that in which we do for a sizeable inheritance.
Those that have nothing to gain from a relative when they pass away are more apt to see the bigger picture when siblings and family members over act towards those that are dying, on their death beds with little time in which to allot their precious savings to those they think more deserving, and the ugliness that ensues when there is a sizeable chunk of cash and valuables to be gained in The Estate makes for sycophancy and flattery and insult of comedy.
When done well, conniving and greed are the perfect emotional responses to the idea of gaining an inheritance; when done well it can give the audience a good time, more than just a laugh that relies on fawning – more than being submissive to the overall desired effect that relies on humour that is opportunistic at best, degrading at worst, then it has succeeded in its mission. However, no film in the modern era needs to stoop to the lowest common denominator and should it do so then it has rightly failed, it becomes a talking point of disillusion in which even the finest f casts cannot hope to push beyond average.
The Estate could have been big, the idea, though used plenty of times before, had the hallmarks of cinematic endeavour sewn through it, and with stars such as Toni Collette, Anna Faris, David Duchovny, and the legendary Kathleen Turner within its ranks, it should have been big, broad, bulked out as of it had been on a course of steroids, and yet it struggles to stay afloat, to be anything other than that dreaded recommendation…It is okay.
To be okay is not an endorsement, it is a fitting display of permitted mediocrity, and whilst Kathleen Turner captures the heart of what could have been, especially in her pay off finale to her family as she growls with desperation her genuine and valid opinion of her nieces and nephew, the rest of the film does not imbibe faith, it reaches for the lowest point and even in the act of redemption fails to show a truth to which the other cast members can hitch a ride to.
To be okay is not a reflection of a good time, and whilst The Estate has its moments, it bottoms out to just get by average. A film which could have been something spectacular, instead folds as easy as a sheet cleaned and pressed after the deceased has been removed from its comforting hold. Realistic yes, entertaining…unfortunately not.
Ian D. Hall