“The Problem With People” begins with a montage of the various wars and conflicts occurring in the world proper now. A dying Irish man, Fergus (Des Keough) bemoans this crushing violence affecting humanity as his TV blares out the information. It’s the broadest start line in a movie that all the time chooses the broadest jokes and conditions. While the comedic script, written by the movie’s star Paul Reiser with Wally Marzano-Lesnevich, favors stereotypes to specificity, director Chris Cottam retains the rhythm buzzing properly sufficient for its 100-minute operating time for the movie to be mildly amusing.
Before he goes, Kes desires to settle at the very least one battle: the one raging inside his family. Many years in the past, his grandfather had a falling out along with his brother, who then immigrated to America. He duties his son Ciaran (Colm Meaney) with contacting his long-lost cousin Barry (Reiser) in New York to provoke a household reconciliation. Before lengthy the American makes his solution to the tiny Irish village the place his cousins dwell. Ciaran is a modest, salt-of-the-earth sort, Barry is a brash actual property tycoon. The ensuing battle between their completely different cultures and personalities is so commonplace, the script might have been copied and pasted from different scenario comedies.
Predictably, the village is filled with quirky personalities: a large number of characters who're all the time prepared with an amusing quip in the background, commenting on the motion like a Greek refrain with Irish accents. None of them are written with any specificity, although the actors handle to land the traces and elicit a couple of chuckles right here and there — aside from a tiresome twosome who attempt to converse with a Brooklyn accent for the whole thing of the film. The comedy depends an excessive amount of on the viewers’s familiarity with this idea and with well-known cultural references. There’s nothing unique right here.
Meaney and Reiser depend on their recognized personalities to play off one another. As Barry’s daughter, Jane Levy is wasted in a task that has her character largely responding to her father’s shenanigans with mild disapproval on the telephone. As the plot thickens, the affable camaraderie between the cousins escalates to hostile animosity. Comfortable in entrance of the digicam, the 2 actors make the ludicrous proceedings jovial sufficient. What began as an homage to 1983’s masterful comedy “Local Hero,” a movie instantly referenced right here a number of instances, winds up feeling like a nicer, extra compassionate remake of “The War of the Roses.” No matter how a lot Ciaran and Barry attempt to one-up one another, they continue to be sweethearts who can’t actually do any hurt. While this makes for straightforward watching, it additionally robs the movie of an edge. But there’s consolation in realizing it will finish fortunately for everybody concerned.
Cottam phases the gang scenes effectively and manages to wring a couple of hearty laughs. In collaboration with cinematographers Richard Kendrick and David Odd, he reveals Ireland in all its magnificence. He even reveals an extended animated sequence to inform the backstory of the familial battle, including a contact of originality. “The Problem With People” is slight and entertaining. Just like previous man Fergus, audiences could be in search of a break from the world being on fireplace. This won't present a lot of a respite. It’s good sufficient however solely partially participating, providing a quick distraction from greater issues.
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