A pair of siblings are blackmailed when they dispose of the corpse they find in their parents' basement.
Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Alex Winter
Starring: Josh Gad, Kaya Scodelario, Billie Lourd, Anthony Carrigan
Director Alex Winter and screenwriter Michael M.B. Galvin are the latest filmmakers to channel the Coen brothers' distinctive blending of the comedy and thriller genres. The setup is classic noir, with a pair of hapless protagonists making one bad judgment call and subsequently finding themselves out of depth as they discover pulling off their crime isn't as easy as they hoped. The comedy comes largely from some colourful supporting characters. But the two flavours ultimately leave a sour taste here, as Adulthood is neither funny nor suspenseful enough to satisfy either comedy or thriller fans.
When their elderly mother is hospitalised by a stroke, siblings Noah (Josh Gad) and Megan (Kaya Scodelario) reconnect. A failing screenwriter with five maxed out credit cards, Noah's life is a mess. On the surface Megan has a comfortable middle class existence, but her son's illness is racking up medical costs. Both are counting on inheriting the family home.
While snooping around said home they make a horrifying discovery - a long-missing neighbour's corpse has been walled up in the basement. Assuming their parents murdered the woman and worried that they might lose their inheritance, Noah and Megan decide not to alert the police and instead dump the body in a nearby lake. Unfortunately for them the corpse surfaces the following morning and the police begin a murder investigation. But their biggest problem is Grace (Billie Lourd), their mother's caregiver. Grace knows all about the corpse and wants Noah and Megan to pay a hefty sum for her silence.
Adulthood suffers from a severe case of tonal imbalance. Some scenes are played for laughs while others wouldn't be out of place in a regular thriller. The comedy isn't organically integrated throughout, but rather pops up every now and then in the form of some madcap scenario. There's a similar imbalance between the two leads. Gad acts as though he thinks he's in a comedy while Scodelario appears to believe she's in a much more serious thriller. Only supporting actors like Lourd and Anthony Carrigan as the siblings' Michael Berryman lookalike creepy cousin understand the assignment.
At a certain junction the movie takes such a dark turn that it practically stops being a comedy from that point and goes into full-on thriller mode for most of the remainder of its running time. Rather than leaning into humour of a very black variety, Adulthood almost seems to take a moral stance after that point, as though it's shaming us for finding any comedy in this grisly scenario.
With the comedy dropped we're left with a second-rate thriller that lacks the necessary tension and suspense. The plot never quite puts Noah and Megan in enough danger of being caught, especially in their dealings with the police. The detective on the case (Camille James) only shows up at the hospital to interview their mother when either Noah or Megan are present, which is all too convenient for them. She clearly suspects the siblings of being up to no good, so why wouldn't she question their mother in their absence? But such details are moot, as we don't really care about whether Noah and Megan get away with their plan. They're not particularly interesting to begin with and the more time we spend in their sociopathic company the more unlikeable they become.
Adulthood is on UK/ROI cinemas from November 17th.
