Most often when faced with an idiosyncratic drama starring someone like Michael Cera, you’re going to get romance. That’s why director Dustin Guy Defa’s latest film, The Adults, is such a breath of fresh air. While it does in fact star the famous Juno lover boy in its lead role, Cera’s character Eric trades in the quirky romance for a much more interesting plotline involving his two sisters and the grief they experience after their mother’s death.
When Eric decides to make a short trip home to visit his siblings, he doesn’t have plans to make much time for family. Instead, he’s more interested in chasing wins with a local amateur poker group with whom he’s fallen out of touch. His oldest sister, Rachel (Hannah Gross), who still lives in their childhood home is less than thrilled to see him after a long time apart, but their younger sister, Maggie (Sophia Lillis), is determined to make the best of her brother’s visit. For Eric, what starts as a desire to win big at the poker table soon turns into complicated attempts at understanding his siblings, their grief, and their lives during his absence.
What makes The Adults interesting is its exploration of the complexities of sibling relationships. Before their mother died, Eric, Maggie and Rachel were close, spending their childhood making up songs and performing plays together. They talked to each other by acting out the parts of different made-up characters complete with absurd voices, and even though their relationships are complicated now, they still revert to this preferred method of communication when in each other’s company. At first, the Muppet-like voices and childlike behavior might seem off-putting to viewers, but eventually it starts to make sense. Don’t we all share a familiar lexicon with our families that only gets used behind closed doors? By choosing to lean into the weird, Defa creates believable sibling relationships that feel as complex as they do alive on the screen.
But for all its charms, the film often feels tonally confused. Eric’s addiction to gambling is an important piece to understanding his character, but these scenes feel so removed from the drama between him and his sisters that at times it almost feels like you’re watching two separate movies. In fact, Maggie and Rachel don’t even seem aware of Eric’s persistent need to win. This seems strange when you consider just how close the three of them used to be, but at no point is Eric’s addiction discussed between them. Because of this failure to thread the narratives together, large parts of Defa’s film feel like a toned down Uncut Gems sans the Furby necklace with no real connection to the rest of the movie’s material.
It’s refreshing to see Cera in a role that doesn’t rely as heavily on his ability to play emotionally awkward men. He’s compelling as Eric, and audiences might find themselves pleasantly surprised at just how good of an actor Cera can be when he steps out of the George Michael Bluth persona for which he’s become so well known. Gross and Lillis are also charming in their roles, and the three work well together on screen. However, for all their combined acting chops, they simply can’t make up for the movie’s flimsy structure. Still, The Adults isn’t the worst thing in theaters right now, but it definitely has a little more growing up to do.
Photo courtesy of Variance Films
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