“Adult Children”
(USA)
Screened at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival (3/5)
Letterboxd (3.5/5), Imdb.com (7/10), TMDB.com (7/10); Imdb.com critics review
#BrentMarchant #AdultChildren #ChiFilmFest #USA #siblings #substanceabusetreatment #Chicago #caregiver
We’d all like to believe that “with age comes wisdom.” But is that necessarily true? In the case of a suburban Chicago family, the household’s four grown children demonstrate that getting older doesn’t automatically equate to getting smarter or more mature. Nevertheless, as fate would have it, life unexpectedly hands them an opportunity to test out that notion in this modestly entertaining comedy-drama from director Rich Newey. When the family’s only son, Josh (Thomas Sadoski), falls prey to his ongoing battle with substance abuse (mostly, though not exclusively, prescription painkillers), he searches for (but is unable to secure) rehab treatment for his condition, something that has obviously come up a number of times before. So, while awaiting a safe place to get clean, he needs a sanctuary where he can stay in the interim to prevent falling off the wagon again. He hopes to temporarily move in with his mother, Mimi (Mimi Rogers), but she and Josh’s stepfather have longstanding plans to go on vacation to Paris, a trip they don’t want to cancel. However, since they’re also uncomfortable leaving Josh to fend for himself at a time like this, they need to devise an alternate plan to provide for his care. Mimi consequently decides to ask Josh’s three sisters to babysit him in her home while she’s away. Knowing Josh’s history, his two eldest sisters, Lisa (Betsy Brandt) and Dahlia (Aya Cash), aren’t especially thrilled with the idea. But their youngest sibling, 17-year-old college-bound half-sister Morgan (Ella Rubin), looks forward to this impromptu reunion. She sees it as a chance to get to know everyone better, an opportunity that will enable her to tap into the alleged wisdom and life experience that she believes comes with age. With a premise like that, one might naturally assume such a setup would be rife with comedic possibilities, potential that’s generally borne out well, particularly when the sisters’ own previously hidden challenges emerge. The result is a gentle, heartwarming domestic comedy with a fine ensemble left to deal with a variety of twists and turns, along with an array of realistic, bona fide grown-up issues. However, despite the chuckles the film evokes, I would have preferred it had it included more and bigger laughs than what it actually serves up. In many respects, this release reminds me of a lite, somewhat watered down version of another Chicago-based domestic comedy, “All Happy Families” (2023). But, unlike that offering, this picture doesn’t generate the same degree of laughs as its predecessor. Had this one turned up the outrageousness factor more and taken itself a little less seriously, it might have risen to the occasion better. It also might have benefitted from playing up some of Mimi’s dubious antics as a former wild child who doesn’t appear to have grown up as much as she would like to lead everybody to believe that she has. But, those considerations aside, “Adult Children” is still a fun watch, especially when it comes to seeing how we should never assume that we’re all as grown up as we’d like to think we are.
Clockwise from left, Thomas Sadoski, Ella Rubin, Aya Cash and Betsy Brandt portray four adult siblings unexpectedly thrown together in a babysitting/caregiving scenario, as seen in “Adult Children.” Photo by Angie Gaffney, courtesy of Chicago International Film Festival.