Anne Kendrick

(In French, On TV, September 2021) While writer-director-actor John Krasinski earned rave reviews as director of A Quiet Place, he already had two feature-length movies in his filmography before his horror breakout. The Hollars is the second of them, and it falls squarely in that favourite playground of low-budget independent cinema: the dysfunctional family dramedy, coupled with a “city boy comes back to town” plot to tie it all together. A cherubic beardless Krasinski anchors the picture as the prodigal son coming back to his childhood home after his mom gets ill — only to discover a bankrupt father, bitter brother, clinging ex-girlfriend and the realization of the fears holding him back from marrying his pregnant girlfriend. This is thoroughly familiar stuff, only slightly elevated by decent execution and a rather good cast. While such familiar names as Anne Kendrick, Sharlto Copley, Charlie Day, and Richard Jenkins add to the film, it’s Margo Martindale who earns the most attention in a tough part as a sick matriarch. The rest of the film is not bad, but it is familiar enough to be forgettable, and there are enough half-sketched subplots to make anyone wonder if the film ended up stuck between comedy and drama, instead aiming for a half-satisfying compromise. Watchable but not memorable, The Hollars is an honourable result for Krasinski, but a pale precursor to his next films.