The Reel Review
A gay couple’s plans to introduce their parents to one another during a weekend getaway to the countryside are ruined when they unwittingly summon a 400-year-old poltergeist. Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Brian Cox and Parker Posey star in this screwball supernatural horror/comedy.
Despite the potentially hilarious Meet the Fockers meets Evil Dead premise, and other than a handful of jokes (uttering the rental’s complicated WiFi password releases the demon), The Parenting is one corny, dreadfully awful film. The screenplay from longtime Saturday Night Live writer Kent Sublette is stale, and director Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins) never finds that right tonal balance between humor and horror.
There is zero onscreen chemistry between the gay couple played by Nik Dodani (Twisters, Atypical) and Brandon Flynn (Hellraiser, 13 Reasons Why), and even the big name, mostly non-comedy supporting cast seems lost as to what to do much of the time. The only somewhat tonally bright spot is Posey as the hippy-dippy homeowner, but it isn’t enough to make this corny mish-mash worth the hour and a half.
REEL FACTS
• The Parenting sat on the shelf for three years before Warner Bros decided to quietly release it on Max.
• Brian Cox was supposed to film a nude scene but opted for a body double.
• The Parenting was filmed in and around Worcester, Massachusetts.
Video & Photo
