The Hollars — Blue Fairy Film Blog

Heart is an undervalued commodity in filmmaking. Big films try to sneak it in, like they do humor and romance, but it always comes off as sloppy and insincere. In John Krasinski’s second directorial effort The Hollars, heart is the base of this small yet thoughtful indie. Centering on a family coming together in the face of their mother’s illness, the cast is quite talented, and up to the task of creating memorable and multifaceted characters.

Our main character is John (Krasinski) a stagnated graphic novelist who is called back home after his mother (Martindale) is found to have a brain tumor. He leaves behind his pregnant girlfriend (Kendrick) to find that his father’s (Jenkins) business is close to bankruptcy, his brother (Copley) has lost his way with his ex-wife (Dyke) and kids, and John’s ex-girlfriend (Winstead) wants him, while her husband (Day) hates his guts. It’s a lot to take in and process, especially in a film with a short running time of 89 minutes. All these elements create a layered and intricate series of events that say a lot about John’s character, a man who hides from his past, doesn’t understand his future, and thinks he’s failing everyone, including himself. The screenwriter is James C. Strouse, who also directed the highly entertaining People Places Things and The Incredible Jessica James. Strouse is great at melding the realism of family life, in all its complexities, and the humor of being a unique person thrown into unique circumstances.

Looking at the film critically, of course there are flaws. The film needs a lot more runtime to explain the backstories of the brothers, who leave a lot unsaid. The entire sequence with Mary Elizabeth Winstead could have been cut and we really wouldn’t have lost anything. Having Anna Kendrick’s character come from a rich family doesn’t do anything for her character and doesn’t truly move the story, except a single opportunity to show her morality. Other than that, she is two-dimensional and only serves to add to John’s character arc. Other than these obvious points of contention, it’s a sweet film that celebrates life, and hopefully Strouse will continue writing these films, because I will definitely keep watching them.