Chris Pine, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Elizabeth Banks Teamed Up for This Charming Family Drama No One Talks About

If there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s big, over-the-top family drama. The kind that’s teeming with melodramatic fights, tearful reunions, and dramatic music lingering in the background. It goes without saying that People Like Us isn’t that kind of movie. The narrative is much softer and unfolds with a natural, lived-in feel, which only makes the emotional stakes higher. Despite sporting a cast stacked with talent — Chris Pine, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Elizabeth Banks — People Like Us somehow flew under the radar. But it delivers a heartfelt story with well-acted drama that never crosses over into melodrama territory. At its core, the film hones in on the type of secrets that can change lives.

Here, Pine plays Sam, a silver-tongued salesman who finds out that he has a half-sister (Banks) after his father’s death. But, instead of simply letting her know the truth, he hesitates — because what’s family drama without a little morally questionable decision-making? As Sam struggles to balance his new reality with the one he knew before, the film shines a spotlight on regret, redemption, and what it really means to be family. While the movie may be grossly understated, that’s what makes it so compelling. All in all, it’s a story that progresses in the small, unspoken moments that say a lot more than any over-the-top monologue ever could.

‘People Like Us’ Turns a Morally Messy Premise Into a Heartfelt Family Drama

Image Via DreamWorks Pictures

Twists in movies are often accompanied by dramatic reveals or heated confrontations because why not? Drama is interesting, especially when there’s a bit of messiness thrown in the mix. It’s safe to say that People Like Us goes against the grain, and it does so by leaning into the discomfort and finding the realness in it. The whole secret sibling premise could have been an easy set up for melodrama, but the film instead looks into the way complicated emotions and moral gray areas can actually bond people. Take the way Sam acts when he first meets Frankie, his newly discovered half-sister. He doesn’t just show up at her door with some flowers and a heartfelt speech about how he always wanted a sibling. Instead, the story plays out like it would in reality — he hesitates and watches from a distance.

Then, because human beings are messy, he figures out a way to befriend her under false pretenses. Looking at it retrospectively, it was an objectively terrible decision. However, it’s one that makes complete sense for a guy who’s spent his whole life avoiding emotional entanglements. The whole thing works because of the pacing — People Like Us doesn’t rush the connection between Sam and Frankie. It allows their dynamic to develop through small, mundane moments such as a shared meal or a quiet conversation at a bar. Because of this, there’s no need to spell out their budding bond, it’s tangible in the way they end up instinctively trusting each other.

The Reason ‘People Like Us’ Works Is the Way Its Cast Sells Every Complicated Emotion

Some family dramas hit you with the feels all at once, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What’s family drama if it can’t be over the top? However, People Like Us proves that there’s more than one way to approach the subject matter. All it took in the movie was a loaded look from Chris Pine or Michelle Pfeiffer saying one thing when she clearly meant another to get the message across. All in all, it’s the performances that make this messy and borderline morally complicated story feel like something that happened to the people next door. Here, Sam isn’t some charming leading man who always knows the right thing to say. He sometimes stumbles over his words and makes horrible choices while thinking he’s making the right ones. Yet, it’s almost impossible not to like him. There’s this genuineness that shows itself in things like guilt and hesitation flickering across his face, especially in scenes where he’s with Frankie and clearly wants to tell her the truth.

Related

Chris Pine Gives a Must-See Performance in This Underrated Crime Series

The 2019 thriller series packs a major punch in only six episodes.

Then there’s Banks, who plays Frankie like someone who’s gotten used to the feeling of being disappointed — especially by the ones she loves. Nevertheless, it’s clear that she keeps her guard up but still clings to hope. That moment when she finds out who Sam really is comes off as brutal. No one needed swelling music to feel the weight of her heartbreak, everything is right there in her expression. There’s also Pfeiffer, who plays Sam’s mother as a brittle, exhausted woman who’s hiding her own secrets, but she’s never cold. You get the sense that every sigh and sharp comment comes from years of unspoken pain. Together, the three of them don’t just play a family, they make you believe it — dysfunction and all.

People Like Us

Release Date

June 29, 2012

Runtime

114 minutes

Writers

Alex Kurtzman, Jody Lambert

Producers

Bobby Cohen

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}