Jason Reitman’s newest film, Labor Day, is, to put it lightly, a total mess. It is a film that tries too hard to juggle multiple themes of love and innocence. Ultimately, that attempt leads to a confusing, self-destructive feature that feels more contrived than ambitious.
The main story revolves around a single mother, Adele, (Kate Winslet) who is struggling with serious depression and agoraphobia after her recent divorce. Her son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith), is the only one who can guide her through her constant worry and misery—that is, until the two find Frank (Josh Brolin) an escaped convict who accidentally committed a murder years ago, wounded after fleeing from a nearby hospital.
Henry and Adele opt to take in this fugitive and give him shelter over the Labor Day weekend, hence the title. A bond slowly forms between the introverted Adele and the fatherly Frank, while Henry is left with mixed thoughts on the events unfolding before his eyes. He becomes close with Frank but fears that he and his mother will elope and she have no need for her son anymore, forcing Henry to live with his adulterous father.
The greatest flaw of this film is its general lack of clarity and justification of the characters’ actions. Why did Henry and Adele agree to give this strange man shelter in the first place? Frank makes a big deal of creating an alibi—that he is holding the family hostage in case the authorities show up.
Abruptly, the problem seems to disappear, and is never readdressed in the film. Additionally, Frank wanders outside a lot despite being all over the news. They note early on that neighbors drop by the house unexpectedly, yet no one even offhandedly mentions that maybe having the escapee out in the yard might catch someone’s eye. Neither Henry nor Adele take even a brief moment to remember this man is still a murderer. These plot holes are just the surface level of all the inconsistencies and unexplained, unjustified events that transpire.
Winslet and Brolin are good actors, but it feels like they are given nothing to do other than look upset, mildly amused, or indifferent. That goes double for Griffith, whose only action throughout the course of this film seems to be staring at people when you feel he really should be talking, or, in the case of more serious situations, actually contributing to the events instead of silently standing off to the side like a barnacle on a sunken ship.
The characters are forgettable and the film fails to capitalize on the talents of its main cast members. Even Tobey Maguire, who narrates the film as an adult Henry, sounds as if they just lifted him off the set of The Great Gatsby and asked him to use the same dull, disengaged narrator voice he did as Nick Carraway.
Labor Day is riddled with pointless scenes and subplots. While Frank and Adele grow closer at home, Henry meets a new girl in town whom he suddenly, with no palpable buildup, becomes romantically interested in. She is much more mature, and talks more like a crude adult than a young girl. She tells Henry that Frank most likely will seduce Adele, and eventually they will leave him in the dust as they run off to live together in love. Her flippant dialogue feels especially out of place in what is otherwise a serious drama.
There is not much that can be said for the generic “tense” score of the film, and nothing about the cinematography stands out much either. But then, not much of this film stands out much at all. The real labor is slogging through this mess of supposed drama as it moves at a snail’s pace, knowing it easily have been shortened down to 80 minutes.
