The more LAURA (Vera Farmiga) tries to set boundaries in her life, the faster those lines are crossed. Her 12-year-old son HENRY (Lewis MacDougall) is in trouble again at school. Her own penchant for adopting stray dogs and cats threatens to overwhelm their Seattle home. And her phone keeps ringing with calls she refuses to pick up—from her estranged father JACK (Christopher Plummer). Maybe Jack will stick around. For Laura, the chance to accept, forgive, and heal will never go away.
I found myself laughing quite a bit and felt great at the end of the journey. The comedy isn't trying to get you all up in your feelings, it just wants you to enjoy the ride.
Boundaries keeps the syrup on medium, and Plummer looks like he's having a ball. If you have a penchant for broken wing syndrome, you may want to let this one into your life.
That's the easy, low-grade charm of "Boundaries." Like the effects of Grandpa's weed, its performances loosen up - and at times even find the profundity in - a stiff and sometimes silly tale.
While some complex themes like abandonment and redemption are touched upon lightly, there's not much room for anything else to breathe with Farmiga's exaggeratedly neurotic character overshadowing some of the more interesting relationships."
The writing is smart and funny, the scenery along the Pacific coast is glorious, and the performances are all topnotch. It was a labor of love for the director, and her close connection to the material is apparent.
Writer-director Shana Heste's film never transcends its clichés, wasting fine actors on a screenplay that whipsaws between broad comedy and shrill drama.
