‘Adulthood’ is a disastrous attempt to combine humor, family fun and artistic quality

By Gabriel Payne

Actor-turned-director Alex Winter’s newest project, “Adulthood”, is a film unlike any that I have ever seen. The movie stars Josh Gad, affectionately known as the voice actor for Olaf the snowman by the majority of audiences, and Kaya Scodelario, of Maze Runner and Pirates of the Caribbean fame. The pair play two siblings, Noah and Meg Robles, who discover the literal meaning of “skeletons in the closet” while exploring their childhood home. The central storyline is their discovery of a former neighbor’s dead body hidden in the walls of their mother’s basement and the subsequent decisions they make in handling this world-altering reality. This suburban-raised sibling duo is abruptly thrust into a world completely different from the one they knew before, filled with conniving blackmailers, relentless investigators and a convicted criminal who happens to be their cousin. Through it all, they keep one important principle in mind, as their cousin Bodie (Anthony Carrigan) puts it: “Family’s the most important thing. Family and protein.” 

There are several themes that this film attempts to explore, with the central theme being the importance of family and sticking together. Even in the face of grave peril and insurmountable circumstances, Noah and Meg never abandon each other or their mother. The entire motivation behind their every action is to protect their family, despite the surface-level facades they may put up. There is nothing they wouldn’t do to accomplish this, and I truly mean nothing. The film is also deeply marked by a focus on black comedy from start to finish. It plays on some incredibly dark, and honestly depressing, moments for humor, sometimes to the viewer’s shock. There is not a single moment where the heaviness or darkness of a scene is allowed to sit and be processed by the characters or the audience. In this world, everything is funny and deserves to be laughed at, no matter how tragic it may be.

This film is incredibly unique in many ways, but unfortunately, most of these ways are not positive. The largest issue that the project dealt with is tonal whiplash and poorly executed transitions. There are several separate moments during the story where everything completely flips genres, or even turns into a different film. The result is a Frankensteinish mish-mash of scenes and plot devices with no discernible pattern. Is it a mystery? Is it a comedy? Is it a family film? No one knows, not even the director. Unfortunately, this movie is an all too classic case of doing everything and yet accomplishing nothing.

It also must be said that some of the performances (note the “some”) are absolutely unbearable. It is abundantly clear that many of the performers were only there for the paycheck, and the biggest example of this was the co-lead, Kaya Scodelario. From the very first scene, her character appears more one-dimensional than construction paper and stays consistent to this portrayal til the last second of the runtime. While she is most definitely the standout among the weak performances, many of the supporting cast members followed this same trend, lending new meaning to the phrase “wooden delivery”.

Despite its numerous flaws, there were a few bright spots in this bleak landscape of aimless storylines and heartless performances. The two strongest aspects were Josh Gad and Anthony Carrigan’s performances, as Noah and Bodie respectively. Josh Gad was one of the few genuine sources of humor throughout the film, exhibiting impressive comedic delivery and thankfully providing a source of entertainment every time he was on screen. It was impressive how he was able to offer such an authentic execution among less than optimal circumstances. Also, Anthony Carrigan as Bodie was absolutely wonderful, not because of any intentionally written characterization or a layered, captivating performance, but because he was straight up hilarious. Carrigan’s portrayal of this deeply disturbed character managed to be both deeply disturbing and highly entertaining. His dialogue, physical appearance and awkward, almost childish characterization were the perfect storm to create a character that was genuinely interesting and executed the task of comedic relief excellently.

As the credits rolled, I found myself asking, “Why was this movie made?” And while I still cannot discern the answer to this question, I do know that this film does serve one useful purpose: to highlight the hopeless brokenness of a world without Christ. Every moment of this movie, even the moments meant to be heartwarming and uplifting, fall painfully short. Just as our souls apart from the work of Christ, this film is lifeless, directionless and void of any significant meaning. Offering little else besides a couple of laughs, I would rate this movie a 2/10. 

“Adulthood” is currently showing in theaters

Gabriel Payne is a junior Mechanical Engineering major whose greatest passion in life is glorifying the Lord, followed closely by some good soul food.

Pictures courtesy of Olive Hill Media and Fresh Fish Films