There have been some pretty savage comedies written about estates, terrible relatives, and death, so it is fertile ground for someone with the right comedic chops. Writer/Director Dean Craig is not someone with those chops. From frame one to the last frame, The Estate is criminally unfunny, predictable and tiresome. The characters are largely unpleasant from the start and do not improve during the course of the film.
The ham-fisted plot casts Toni Collette and Anna Faris as sisters desperately trying to maintain control of their dad's dream - a financially underwater diner. Apparently it was once the spot to eat, but under the supervision of these two it has foundered. It is not hard to see why. Faris is a complete moron, who is not even remotely interested in being responsible for anything. Collette is a dishrag, who allows everyone to walk all over her and whose latest relationship is with a construction worker who constantly cries over everything. When their gorgon mother informs them that their filthy rich aunt Kathleen Turner is terminally ill, Faris browbeats Collette into showing up at her mansion to suck up and hopefully get put in the will. To their dismay, the same thought has already occurred to their cousins - the sleazy David Duchovny who has always wanted to put the moves on Collette and manipulative Rosemary DeWitt - who are already sucking up fast and furious.
After the set-up, the remainder of the film is basically the characters trying to one up each other and seeing how their various schemes go wrong or work in ways they did not foresee. The whole effort is just dreadfully unpleasant without any of the benefits of dark comic humor.
The characters are divided between dishrags and users. Why in the world Collette took this part is beyond me, unless she needs a new agent. She is much better than this material. She is given very little funny to do and spends the majority of the film looking whipped, wan and weary. Her character does not even function as a suitable moral compass or an amusing straight-woman for others to bounce off. As her sister, Faris is abrasive and irritating. If there was a time when anyone thought Faris had talent or range, those days are long left in the rear view mirror. Similar to her ex-husband (Chris Pratt), Faris seems to have one brand of shtick and she has no idea how to break out of it, especially now when it is not doing her or her films/shows any favors.
The supporting cast fares little better. Patricia French as their mother is as abrasive as Faris, but dialed up to 100. Duchovny embraces the whole sleazeball route, but the film gives him very limited notes to play. DeWitt is a bit better as the plotting cousin, who is so desperate to get her hands on Turner's money that she is literally willing to prostitute her husband, Ron Livingston, against his will. Keila Montorosso Mejia initially appears briefly as the youngest sister and the two leads, who still lives with their mother, has a Dungeons & Dragons obsession, and does "zany" stuff like dressing up as her favorite D&D character and drinking pickle juice. Later in the film, our oh-so-classy leading ladies along with their cousins decide to use the underage sister as bait for a sex pervert, and everyone seems to think this is fine. Livingston is the other dishrag in the cast. He is ostensibly the only one with a conscience, but he allows his nasty wife to walk all over him and then browbeat him into offering himself sexually to their aunt. A scene which may have been funny if anything came of it, but it stops before any comic gold can be mined from it.
And dear God, what in blue blazes has Hollywood done to Kathleen Turner? If Collette is wasted here, then Turner is desecrated. Turner was once the toast of the town with wonderful performances in Body Heat, Romancing the Stone and Peggy Sue Got Married. Since she has become older, her roles all seem to be as battle axes depicted as repellently as possible. Here, Turner must contend with nonstop indignities. She is photographed as unflatteringly as possible and depicted as disgustingly as possible. Her weight gain is used for "isn't she gross" comic moments and her age allows for such gems as watching people wretch over her bodily fluids and appear shell-shocked over the news that she may want intimacy with a man.
Honestly, if a film is this repulsive, it better be damn funny. Something About Mary, this isn't. And pretty much everyone who has ever read a book or seen a film will predict the "twist" ending from 100 miles away. And I kept thinking that if Collette and Faris's crummy management and cooking skills had tanked their dad's dream diner, why in the world would anything change with the infusion of fresh money into the mix if the same incompetent boobs were still heading the enterprise?
Just a horrid misfire on all counts.
The ham-fisted plot casts Toni Collette and Anna Faris as sisters desperately trying to maintain control of their dad's dream - a financially underwater diner. Apparently it was once the spot to eat, but under the supervision of these two it has foundered. It is not hard to see why. Faris is a complete moron, who is not even remotely interested in being responsible for anything. Collette is a dishrag, who allows everyone to walk all over her and whose latest relationship is with a construction worker who constantly cries over everything. When their gorgon mother informs them that their filthy rich aunt Kathleen Turner is terminally ill, Faris browbeats Collette into showing up at her mansion to suck up and hopefully get put in the will. To their dismay, the same thought has already occurred to their cousins - the sleazy David Duchovny who has always wanted to put the moves on Collette and manipulative Rosemary DeWitt - who are already sucking up fast and furious.
After the set-up, the remainder of the film is basically the characters trying to one up each other and seeing how their various schemes go wrong or work in ways they did not foresee. The whole effort is just dreadfully unpleasant without any of the benefits of dark comic humor.
The characters are divided between dishrags and users. Why in the world Collette took this part is beyond me, unless she needs a new agent. She is much better than this material. She is given very little funny to do and spends the majority of the film looking whipped, wan and weary. Her character does not even function as a suitable moral compass or an amusing straight-woman for others to bounce off. As her sister, Faris is abrasive and irritating. If there was a time when anyone thought Faris had talent or range, those days are long left in the rear view mirror. Similar to her ex-husband (Chris Pratt), Faris seems to have one brand of shtick and she has no idea how to break out of it, especially now when it is not doing her or her films/shows any favors.
The supporting cast fares little better. Patricia French as their mother is as abrasive as Faris, but dialed up to 100. Duchovny embraces the whole sleazeball route, but the film gives him very limited notes to play. DeWitt is a bit better as the plotting cousin, who is so desperate to get her hands on Turner's money that she is literally willing to prostitute her husband, Ron Livingston, against his will. Keila Montorosso Mejia initially appears briefly as the youngest sister and the two leads, who still lives with their mother, has a Dungeons & Dragons obsession, and does "zany" stuff like dressing up as her favorite D&D character and drinking pickle juice. Later in the film, our oh-so-classy leading ladies along with their cousins decide to use the underage sister as bait for a sex pervert, and everyone seems to think this is fine. Livingston is the other dishrag in the cast. He is ostensibly the only one with a conscience, but he allows his nasty wife to walk all over him and then browbeat him into offering himself sexually to their aunt. A scene which may have been funny if anything came of it, but it stops before any comic gold can be mined from it.
And dear God, what in blue blazes has Hollywood done to Kathleen Turner? If Collette is wasted here, then Turner is desecrated. Turner was once the toast of the town with wonderful performances in Body Heat, Romancing the Stone and Peggy Sue Got Married. Since she has become older, her roles all seem to be as battle axes depicted as repellently as possible. Here, Turner must contend with nonstop indignities. She is photographed as unflatteringly as possible and depicted as disgustingly as possible. Her weight gain is used for "isn't she gross" comic moments and her age allows for such gems as watching people wretch over her bodily fluids and appear shell-shocked over the news that she may want intimacy with a man.
Honestly, if a film is this repulsive, it better be damn funny. Something About Mary, this isn't. And pretty much everyone who has ever read a book or seen a film will predict the "twist" ending from 100 miles away. And I kept thinking that if Collette and Faris's crummy management and cooking skills had tanked their dad's dream diner, why in the world would anything change with the infusion of fresh money into the mix if the same incompetent boobs were still heading the enterprise?
Just a horrid misfire on all counts.