Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

michelelewis88 I wasn't sure what to expect when I rented this movie. Didn't even hear about it at the movies and I dont have tv for commercial previews. I just know watching this young girl's family deteriorate before your eyes was so heartbreaking. The mom (Jennifer garner) has no clue as to how her emotionally erratic behavior is pushing everyone she loves away. To the point her surgeon husband wants to leave her for someone else. The only outlet the kids have to deal with the emotional drama is surfing and alcohol and drugs. Well, the latter for the son. He's the new head of the household the mom keeps screamingly reminding him. Crazy pressure on a teen, no wonder he sought out drugs and alcohol to numb the pain and what was going on, eventually leading to his ultimate demise. The parents were clueless on how their screaming and fighting and infidelity was affecting their own kids. They were truly unsatisfied family. It was heartbreaking to watch. Makes me take notice of my own 14 year old .... Good but heartbreaking movie.

modd711 Jennifer as always is absolutely phenomenal. However, the main characters voice throughout the movie is just awful. I don't know what it is, but I her voice just irked me. The entire movie was predictable and cheesy and the voice on top of that just made it all worse. Jennifer garner helps keep this at a 2.

Larry Silverstein The Mason family has just moved from Michigan to the exclusive community of Palos Verdes, California. There's the noted heart surgeon father (Justin Kirk), the emotionally troubled mother (Jennifer Garner) and their extremely close twin siblings (Maika Monroe and Cody Fern).The film is narrated by Monroe's character Medina, as they all settle into their palatial home overlooking the gorgeous Pacific Ocean. However, all is not idyllic in this family, as we actually watch them deteriorate before our eyes.The acting is solid all around but I found the story led me on a depressive and mean-spirited slog, with the parents particularly despicable here as they manipulate their teenage kids for their own purposes no matter what the cost. Without giving too much away here, the cost will be very high.Overall, some may find this unrelenting melodrama to their liking but for me it was a difficult view and far from entertaining.

Moviegoer19 Another reviewer referred to this film as "cruel." I think a better word is "sad." It was quite well done. Despite anticipating the brother's demise, I was moved to tears at the end. The film did a great job of showing the complexities of being in a nuclear family in the 21st century, though, to be honest, I wasn't sure of the time frame until Facebook was mentioned. In most films that take place today the cell phone plays a major role and in this film it didn't, though they did Skype. Anyway, Jennifer Garner is usually not a favorite of mine, but her acting in this film was excellent as was Maika Monroe's. The complex emotions exchanged by the members of this broken upper middle class family were realistic, palpable, and multi-dimensional. For example, it would have been easy to simply hate the father (Justin Kirk) for falling out of love with his wife and leaving his family for another one, yet one scene in which he explains himself to his daughter, bore some truths which made me feel empathy for him as well as the others. The story was presented with depth which is what made it successful, in my opinion. It's not a happy film, or even particularly hopeful, but it is a realistic slice of life and engrossing.