Synopsis
Kate Stone is career-focused with a brash attitude that keeps relationships at an arm's length. When her estranged brother calls asking her to baby-sit her tween niece Maddie, Kate reluctantly agrees to help. But baby-sitting overnight unexpectedly turns into a week, and Kate's life spins into chaos. As Maddie reveals stories of being bullied and of wanting to run away and be a Juggalo, the two form a unique bond.
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Cast
- Taylor SchillingKate
- Brian Tyree HenryPete
- Bryn ValeMaddie
- Allison TolmanCheryl
- Fabrizio GuidoDennis
- Kate McKinnonJill
- Peter HortonCharlie
- Jessie EnnisErin
- Matt WalshDan
- Eric EdelsteinJoe
Recommendations
- 75
Consequence
Much of Family‘s humor comes from the juxtaposition of Kate and Maddie’s bonding with moments of pitch-black selfishness. - 73
Paste Magazine
There’s some surprisingly compelling footage, played over the end credits, of real life Juggalos providing testimonials about what their community means to them, and in that a message about understanding the misunderstood. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Enjoyable despite its familiarity. - 70
Los Angeles Times
This charming, shaggy story of embracing oneself to authentically connect with others is peppered with appealing performances from Brian Tyree Henry and Kate McKinnon, and a truly bravura turn by Schilling as a woman frazzled to her wits’ end. - 67
Austin Chronicle
Family succeeds, for the most part, because of and not despite the sheer familiarity of its hoary storyline. - 58
IndieWire
Family is funny in bits and pieces, but so obvious in terms of its eventual direction that it might have been better served by less plot and more clowning around. - 50
The New York Times
Thoroughly good-natured and with a handful of decent jokes (like Kate McKinnon as a vulpine suburban mom), Family would be more interesting if, instead of trying to rewire Kate, it just admitted that her harsh honesty and benign neglect were more beneficial to Maddie than her mother’s anxious hovering. - 50
RogerEbert.com
Appealing on a scene-by-scene basis but generic like its title — it might as well have been called “About a Girl” as a thematic nod to Chris and Paul Weitz’s superb 2002 film — Steiner’s dull comedy lacks the crucial feelings that could have made the suburban aunt-niece tale at its center more memorable.
