Saved by top-class cast
The Hollars Running time: 1hr 26min Starring: Sharlto Copley, Charlie Day, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, John Krasinski, Margo Martindale, Josh Groban, Randall Park Director: John Krasinski
JOHN Krasinski’s second film as actor-director is a comedy-drama about a dysfunctional clan brought together by the life-threatening illness of its beloved matriarch.
Krasinski sticks to an awfully familiar indie template in The Hollars.
Judicious balance of droll humour and sincere sentiment? Check. Quirky gallery of quarrelsome but affectionate characters? Check. Universal themes of life, death, commitment and familial love? Check. Gentle folk-rock punctuating every scene? Check again. This one is straight out of the old-school Sundance manual. Still, there’s enough warmth, humour and heart in the very slick package.
The chief reward is the cast, which mixes TV regulars with a pleasing bunch of indie and studio picture regulars. It even gives South African District 9 vet Sharlto Copley an agreeable chance to interact with humans. If all that never transcends the unoriginality of Jim Strouse’s script, it’s at least a sweet, compact affair that yields low-key, characterdriven laughs and tears.
When salty, good-humoured matriarch Sally Hollar (Martindale) has a seizure, Dr Fong (Park) informs the family that she has an advanced brain tumour. Her distraught husband of 38 years, Don (Richard Jenkins) calls Rebecca (Anna Kendrick) in New York, who steps into action, getting her long-term boyfriend and the Hollars’ youngest son, John (Krasinski), on a plane home.
Already, there’s a nagging generic quality to Strouse’s writing. Becca and John both have cool New York jobs that bear no relevance to anything in the plot – she designs pet clothing, he’s in publishing but is working on a graphic novel without much conviction.
The principal anchor that keeps the formulaic plot engaging is the ever-reliable Martindale. Always ready with a deadpan crack and a wry smile no matter how grave the news, Sally breaks just a little when she learns that her head needs to be shaved. “I’ll look ridiculous,” she says. “I’ll look like Rod Steiger.”
While Kendrick is appealing as always, her comic chops are underutilised in a sober, sensible role with zero edge.
Krasinski casts himself as the likeable lost dude who finds his commitment through a renewed understanding of what family means. Copley and Day get most of the fun stuff to play, handling their comedic chores with ease.
The film is certainly not without sincere feeling, though Krasinski seems to lack confidence in the strength of the story’s emotions to resonate without help, judging by the extent to which he plasters Josh Ritter’s melodic score and songs over every scene transition. But for a directorial effort devoid of ambition, The Hollars at least is handled with taste and restraint by the overqualified actors.