4.5 stars out of 5
For those of you who don’t know, this is the theatrical version of the hit television drama series This Is Us. So if you love that show, just go see this movie, don’t read anything else about it, it has all your favorite characters and you’ll have a good old-fashioned cry.
Ahem. When the dust settles, I don’t know that Us will be the best movie of 2019, but it will absolutely be in the running for most entertaining. This is a total blast and fully satisfying filmmaking. We start out with a most relatable premise: The Wilsons — mama, papa, older sis, younger bro — take a family vacation to a cabin by the shore. Well, ok, we really start out with flashbacks of mama as a young girl, who had visited that same boardwalk with her folks. Something goofy happened, so now mom is a bit hesitant to head back to the beach with her own kids. But, not wanting to be a wet blanket, she relents.
Lupita Nyong’o, so excellent in Black Panther, gives a radically different and even better performance here as the mom, Adelaide. Gabe Wilson (M’Baku in Black Panther; no this is not a sequel) is the corny, is-everybody-happy dad who keeps the mood light. And hey, their friends are here too: Elisabeth Moss (because she’s in every movie) and wacky Tim Heidecker sans Eric.
Ah, but maybe mom’s concerns were valid, because: boom, home invasion. And what develops over the first half of the movie is a taut psychological thriller, which incorporates jonesing to keep up with the Joneses, plus a compelling metaphor for the haves-and-have-nots and possible class warfare.
In the second half, writer/director Jordan Peele gently sets aside most of the “psychological” aspect and just starts joyously tossing shit around. It is scary (not A Quiet Place scary, but scary) and really funny and fun and smart and satirical (even Alexa gets in the mix). Peele’s direction is a bit improved since Get Out, and there’s some nice camera work too.
The only time this movie gets bogged down is when it tries to explain what’s going on — it’s sci-fi mumbo jumbo that makes no sense whatsoever, so why even try? But Peele recovers quickly and definitely sticks the landing, which for me took the film to another level. Without any spoilers, I was totally alone in the theater on the afternoon of my 50th birthday, and when late in the story something significant happened, I thrust both arms straight up in the air in unbridled bliss. Thanks for the bday gift, Jordan Peele.
Jack Silbert, curator