The Adults
Written and Directed by Dustin Guy Defa
Starring Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, Sophia Lillis
Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes
In theaters August 18th

by Ashley Jane Davis, Staff Writer

What is it like to spend time with your siblings after both of your parents have died? I don’t know. To be honest, the last time I was in a room with both of my siblings, it was at the funeral of our one remaining parent over five years ago. We didn’t have the kind of family where our parents were the glue to hold us together, but there was a religious community we grew up in that was the backbone of our relationship. When I left that community, all that remained between us was love. Is love enough when siblings are adults with different lives, different paths, and different values? This is explored in The Adults.

In director and screenwriter Dustin Guy Defa’s The Adults, we follow Eric (Michael Cera) as he returns home for a quick trip to visit a friend and his new baby. While in town, he carves out time to visit his two sisters out of a performance of duty, not letting it interfere with an ongoing poker game of seeming greater personal importance. The days go by and Eric keeps prolonging his visit (in the name of poker), and we are strung along to watch as adults act like kids, with no parents to guide them, and dwindling reasons to remain close.

Eric is the oldest sibling. He left his hometown and prides himself on his frequent flyer miles and hotel points, his poker prowess, and #winning. He is passively judgmental of both his sister’s mental health struggles yet seemingly unaware of his own compulsions and is quick to take the easiest exit out of any discomfort, regardless of how it affects others. Rachel (Hannah Gross) is the oldest sister, the responsible one who took on the role of family steward – caring for the family home (and cat). She displays a bitterness toward Eric and a maternal responsibility for Maggie. Maggie (Sophia Lillis) is the youngest of the family. She is unsure of her life path and full of yearning to just have her siblings back, same as they always were.

The film is most memorable for its performances. My heart went out to Maggie, and I understood her heartfelt grasps at any straws of commonality. I felt the simmering resentment of Rachel, as I was entertained by a scene featuring her weaponized vacuuming. And I was genuinely frustrated by Eric – particularly after one all-time great con performance at a poker game, where he tricked me into feeling sympathy for his “vulnerability” – bravo (you ass). I think each actor gave a convincing performance and I totally bought them as siblings, but as characters, I would recommend giving therapy a try.

Performances aside, it’s not the cinematography, the music, or the technical filmmaking that really stick for me. It’s the emotions and the feeling. The smallness I felt being in their family home, a museum of the past full of relics from their parents. The queasy awkwardness that I felt as I watched adults struggle to express themselves, unable to communicate seriously with each other without using Marge Simpson voices and impressions. The childish safety of feeling through characters of the past, rather than being fully present. The melancholy I felt when the camera lingered in closeup as someone’s unmasked face cracked their true feelings while they thought no one was watching. The annoyance of witnessing a judgment being dished out by someone with very little self-awareness. There are moments of warmth, but they are few and far between.

This movie made me sad. That’s not a critique by any means. If life is not a tidy package with all loose ends tied up and a fully formed happy ending, why should art be? This film is a total mood piece, and if you’re not feeling the mood, there may not be enough to hold you.

I think this film will motivate some folks to call their siblings up and maybe plan that weekend trip they’ve been loosely talking about for years - or at least check in on how they’re really doing. It may cause others to sit in the warmth of fond memories they have shared with their siblings. It may also cause others to hurt and reckon with the fact that the past is gone, and both they and their siblings don’t exist as they once were anymore. Whatever your feelings are, if you have siblings, I think it’s impossible not to think about them while you watch The Adults.

No matter how old we get or how different we are as individuals, there is still something inside us that holds on to our siblings. It’s like an invisible string, strong enough to stretch hundreds of miles, thin enough to not interfere with our personal paths, but delicate enough to be tugged by the smallest trigger – a brief smell, a song intro, a forgotten toy. Love never leaves. But is love enough?