Firstly it is hard to explain this film without giving anything away so this will be a spoiler free review that may seen a bit vague.
Firstly to respond to these 1 Star reviews saying that you are supposed root for the awful woman who is ripping off old people..... Well you aren't.
This film is actually very clever. It has no good guys, accept for the poor guy right at the beginning who just wants to see his Mother. It's a refreshing concept, who do you root for when both main characters are pretty evil? Fact is neither. You just watch the mayhem unfold and see where it goes. Most Cinema is very formulaic most of the time. Good guy starts strong, middle of film gets weakened and then comes back to save the day. This film is a refreshing twist on the somewhat stagnant at times method of storytelling in films. Throughout the film you actually want the evil guardian woman to lose.... badly. y
You even kind of side with Peter Dinklage's gangster character even though he is not a very nice man either. But that's what's clever, there are no superheroes, no good guys, no one that you really want to win. In fact you want nearly everyone to lose, which is odd but a new and different viewing experience.
I have to admit that throughout the second part of the story I really did think I was going to dislike this film. Especially if it had the ending it seemed to be heading towards. Which it kind of did , however...... the last couple of minutes made this film a bloody good film and a genius concept. Without spoiling anything this has one of the best examples poetic justice I have ever seen in a movie. I can't say more without spoiling it but the absolute end of this film not only redeemed the movie it made the whole thing make sense.
Another point I feel I should make is this film brings to light the easily abused court appointed guardian system that actually exists the US. Yes in certain places in America guardians can stop family members from seeing those under their care. It's wrong, unjust and this film does a good job of showing the dark side of such an ill thought out system.
Now accept for the story the good points of this film are it has great acting. Peter is cracking as he always is and Rosamund Pike plays her character well. I rally did hate her throughout this film which shows how good an actress she is. The film is shot well with some very clever cinematography.
The main Negatives for me are it does get a little rushed in the second part. It could have done with another 15 minutes setting up the finale and certain points don't make sense. Also it is listed as a comedy which it really isn't. Go in expecting a comedy and you'll be majorly disappointed. It's more a reflection on society and the greed that we have nowadays. I feel this comedy tag has had a major negative impact on the film which is a bit silly. It is most definitely not a comedy.
Basically my advice is watch the film. You won't like many of the characters. They're pretty much bottom feeders the lot of them, except for maybe one of two. But that's not the point of this film. Watch it, enjoy the storytelling even if you don't like what's happening and see if like me, you have a massive smile on your face right at the end.
