Jason Reitman is known for directing unorthodox films such as Juno and Thank You for Smoking. His new film, not only follows his trend of staying off the beaten path, but is an implausible melodrama.
In Labor Day Kate Winslet plays a depressed single mother named Adele living with her 13-year-old son Henry who attempts to be the man of the house, giving his mother “husband of the day” coupons where he offers to wash the dishes and take her out to a movie.
Winslet is the saving grace in Labor Day, with her convincing portrayal of an emotionally-broken women who has suffered through divorce and multiple brutal miscarriages.
Frank (Josh Brolin), an escaped convict, approaches the pair as they are out on a shopping trip, and ‘politely’ forces them to take him back to their house, by implicitly threatening them. He explains he just needs to recover from his recent appendectomy and injuries sustained by bolting out of the second story window of the hospital.
However, the muddled plot and multiple subplots don’t allow the viewer to become fully immersed in the movie, making the experience feel labored and a little dragged out.
What makes the movie implausible is how the Adele allows the man to stay in her home and puts her trust in him, even though he tries her up and spoon feeds her for her “own protection.”
Over a sleepy three-day weekend, Frank oozes good manners as he repairs the house, teaches Henry to play baseball and even bakes peach pie, all while holding them hostage.
It is obvious that the reclusive and lonely Adele is falling for the misunderstood macho man and his ability to be the father figure her son lacked. In a way, they both need each other to escape the prisons that hold them captive. Frank is a literal prisoner to his convicted crime, and Adele is prisoner to her grief and depression.
As I left the theater I could not help but wonder if it was love or Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological phenomenon where hostages develop feelings for their captors that Adele felt for Frank. Perhaps that was the point Reitman was trying to make with the movie.
Frank, who had been serving a 20-year sentence for murder that the audience is clued into throughout the film, becomes a mysterious hunk and knows his power over the pair when he tells Adele he is “there to save her.” His gentle voice contradicts his demanding words and muscular build which appears to leave Adele and her son speechless for most of the film.
Several effective flashbacks throughout the movie show Frank’s past and attempts to show the viewer that he is not the dangerous monster displayed by the media.
As well as decent acting, the location of the film in a sleepy New England town is what makes the background stories feel real, such as the nosy small-town neighbors and bank tellers.
Although it seems Reitman was trying to make a movie that portrays real life and relationships and isn’t just another rom-com, the vague Oedipal suggestions in Henry’s relationship with his mother and other subplots made me uncomfortably file the movie away in my ‘don’t watch again” cabinet.
Labor Day is rated PG-13 and is 111 minutes long.
