‘The Adults’ review: Dustin Guy Defa misses the mark in this quirky family drama | Berlinale

American indie favorite Dustin Guy Defa returns to Berlinale with a feature almost a decade after his short film Person to Person screened fresh out of Sundance. The Adults could have premiered there as well, but it’s now found a home in Berlin’s prestigious and fresh Encounters section. The film follows Eric, played by Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) during an extended weekend in the hometown he’s left behind eight years ago and due to a series of circumstances, he cannot seem to leave and ends up spending more time than planned with his two younger siblings.

First, we’re introduced to Eric as he unpacks his rather small bag in a hotel room, he plays music from a speaker, takes out his laptop, picks up his phone: it seems more like a work trip than a homecoming. During his two short conversations, it becomes apparent that he’s been expected, that he’s wanted not in one, but in two places, which he both dismisses in a mutually entangled lie to seek out his old poker group. Eric is quiet, but insistent—his hesitant way of speaking cannot overrule the fact that he’s after winning, proving himself, and having the last word. In addition, Defa is honest enough to show how annoying his characters can be. 

Without too much backstory, we’re left to piece the clues together, but the story seems pretty straightforward: deceased parents, three slightly estranged siblings, and a weekend reunion at their old childhood home. Three years after they last saw each other, Eric and his sister Rachel (Hannah Gross from Tesla, Mindhunter) seem reserved and awkward in the way they try to reconnect. Gross is a great middle child—huffy, observant, and often punishing—and her physical presence alone is enough to establish a power dynamic which is not easy to grasp, not at first. The little sister, Maggie (Sophia Lillis of It, Sharp Objects), completes a trio of unlikely characters and acts as a mediator for most of the film’s duration.

Adulthood is pushed back against, as if the characters, in various degrees, have trouble fitting in their own skin. It’s a beguiling premise which sets the stage up for a witty human drama with a deeper understanding of familial love as warfare. Defa is most certainly able to deliver this in his signature quirky way—taking cues from his acclaimed shorts and his 2017 indie gem Person to Person—but The Adults quickly runs out of steam. The interpersonal tension may be crucial for the script, but it doesn’t fully translate to the screen as emotionally charged scenes wane after an initial surge; the rhythm is somehow not quite right and it lets the otherwise precious awkwardness dissipate.

As a notable example, the trio uses childlike roleplay in moments when they find it difficult to speak. At first, it’s all very endearing, to see messy adult talk circumvented like this, but it soon becomes a gimmick as the supposed repression gives way to inertia, effectively reducing this dramatic choice to infantile reactions instead of the suggested coping mechanisms. Not only, it becomes plain irritating to watch. Without the perfect tonal balance, the film dispenses with its emotional power, however good the actors are. Cera is trying his best as an thirty-something guy riddled with insecurities who is coincidentally an incredible poker player, but Gross and Lillis are the ones who are truly magnetic, especially when together. Yet the gravitational center is unequivocally placed on Eric, who is arguably the least interesting of the three. Yes, he is the single brother and the eldest sibling, but this attention feels unwarranted. If someone is the glue between the three, it’s bubbly college-dropout Maggie, not him.

The Adults is best when mapping out the complex machinations involved when two becomes three: how a line of two dots folds into a triangle and these initial moments of sharp edges softening when the trio becomes one group character. Unfortunately, there are only glimpses of such magic in the film, but Defa can surely channel it. I’m placing a strong bet on his next one.

Grade: C

This review is from the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. Universal Pictures Content Group will release The Adults in the U.S on July 4, 2023.