I wanted to turn this off, but considering it was 10pm on a Sunday night and I had work tomorrow, I decided I was too deep to look for another movie and chose to tough it out. My main gripe, none of these characters are likable. In fact, most of them I found myself hating. Chris Pine is a wannabe hotshot selfish asshole douche and it's hard to invest any interest in him. The kid is a smart mouthed little shit, who if he was my kid, would NEVER talk to me the way he does to strangers and especially his own mother. The plot is not that complex yet it drags on and on, you just want it to be over already. I'm honestly shocked at how many people gave this film a good score and actually wrote glowing reviews about it. Maybe I don't get it, but I guess I'm glad about that.

I think the domestic violence in this movie completely overshadows any positive content. Both the mother and half sister of the main character, Sam, perpetrated domestic violence in an alarming manner. Upon becoming angry with Sam, the two female characters struck him rapidly, multiple times. It's not okay, even if women are the perpetrators. The danger of making light of such behavior in a movie is many viewers may think it is a social norm. People may think that such acts are domestic violence only when committed by men. Violence breeds violence. I would not have given the movie such a low rating if in some way it sent a message saying the acts were not socially acceptable.

There are so many ways of lying, of being fake... For example, pretending you are being modest when in fact you are not; or pretending you are being honest, when in fact you are not. The movie People Like Us teaches us that, when it comes to tell a story, you can be immodest and dishonest both at the same time. Although the subject matter promises us an interesting movie (the "Hey! By the way, you have a step brother" issue), we are treated rather to a "Do as I say!" indoctrination-type film, interspersed with your typical everyday clichés, lack of talent, lack of substance and beautiful people. For, although the author could've chosen not to force on us his particular view of how is it that we are to behave and feel about these delicate, and rather personal family matters, but simply make a movie about the viability of it, he nonetheless takes himself the liberty of doing the former.Apparently, you only start being a "true" human being when you stop being mad at your husband for having babies all over the place, and simply tell your little son about this potentially very painful fact (-- the father will lose its respect in the eyes of the boy, but at least he will become a "true" human being when he grows up: yea!--). Although having babies with other women while being married doesn't seem like the kind of thing to encourage, our author teaches us that it's OK: as long as daddy doesn't forget to take his diverse little offspring to the local park in order to film them with his old camcorder from the 80's, while they run around and bump with each other unaware, there seems to be no major issue with it.On the other hand, and as with many other adolescent, immature movies, everything gets centered around the main characters' overabundance of feeling. It's all about showing this overflow of emotions and inner struggles that more than being of service, nauseates with its over- sentimental, corny, gooey bad taste.All in all, I'm giving this movie 5 stars (not zero), for its production in general and quality actors are, nonetheless, worth mentioning.

I was pleasantly surprised when I finally committed to sitting down and watching this movie. I'm a huge fan of Michelle so naturally I knew I would get around to it, though the premise made me uneasy. The story essentially revolves around Sam (Chris pine) who learns his father has died and left him a shaving case filled with money to give to his half sister, Frankie (elizabeth banks) that he never knew existed. During this journey we learn all about what in his eyes was a very unhappy childhood, the estrangement with his parents (Michelle Pfeiffer is his mother), some obvious relationship issues he has with his current girlfriend (Olivia Wilde), and the difficult issues Frankie and her son have. I felt the acting was top notch for the most part. Loved Michelle as I always do. The only issue I had with the film were some of the unanswered questions and certain aspects that seemed less believable. Where was Frankie's mom in all this? Why would Jerry (Sam's dad) be so detached with him yet make the effort to reunite the kids on Sundays? Why would that detachment between Sam and his father mean distance between Sam and his mother? What the hell ended up happening with everyone trying to arrest Sam at the end? There is this shift where you get some insight that Sam may not be all that great of a guy... The argument he has with his girlfriend, troubles at work, yet it was never really addressed... Just he made up with everyone and yeah, happy ever after getting to know his sister. They delved a bit into Lillian's heart condition yet didn't fully explore why she wasn't seeking treatment and why she finally agreed to it, that convo even after she was back home never happened.Despite all that, the movie was enjoyable and thought provoking - which are movies that are rarely made these days. So if you can forgive the questions that arise once it's finished and enjoy it for what it is, it's worth it.