‘The Estate’ Review – A Dark Comedy For Those Who Don’t Like To Laugh

Excited to watch The Estate? Don’t be, it’s not exactly a film that creatively blends both Toni Collette and Anna Faris’s acting abilities well.  

The Estate is a black comedy that is written and directed by Dean Craig. When financially unstable sisters, Savanna (Anna Faris), and Macey (Toni Collette) hear about their affluent Aunt Hilda (Kathleen Turner) dying from a terminal illness, they concoct a plan that will no doubt ensure their fiscal future. That is if they can manage to get in the will before she crooks.

These two sisters aren’t the only ones that are looking to get a large inheritance from their aunt. The womanizer Richard (David Duchovny) has a few tricks up his sleeve. Not only has Richard been staying and helping out Aunt Hilda while she is slowly succumbing to her illness, but he has also been making some sexual innuendo towards the female side of his family.

The film itself resists a cohesive plot structure throughout, making it more confusing than it needs to be. The opening scene is a fun 3-minute animation that quickly grabs your attention. Macey and Savanna are working to keep their family’s café going, which was left to them by their father who passed away. They received a foreclosure notice from the bank and are also denied a loan. Then it transitions away from the animation to the two sisters. They hatch up a plan to get the money they need to be able to help them save their own personal interest, as well as the café – which is scarcely talked about and which no real attachment to it is developed throughout the film.

While this might be classified as a comedy, there are remarkably very few moments of actual comedic magic. It would be one thing to say that there are real stakes here for these characters that are developed over time, but that isn’t what we get. All the characters are motivated by self-interests and not one of their causes seems remotely authentic. Macey wants the money to be able to keep her boyfriend Geoff (Gichi Gamba) from leaving for Alaska but is hardly talked about. Savannah wants to save the café, but her story as to why it means so much to her is really lacking. It feels more like she is comfortable with it, rather than it meaning something to her. Ellen (Keyla Monterroso Mejia, “Abbott Elementary”) a hard-core Dungeons and Dragon player also fails to deliver a convincing performance at any stage of the film. The writers could have referenced actual numbers when making references to the game. This was just a hard failing for a character that is meant to be believable. Meanwhile, Beatrice (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her husband James (Ron Livingston “Sex and the City”) are looking to get in on the fortune in order to save their restaurant, (maybe this family just doesn’t know how to run an eatery?)

This mixed bag of outrageous characters just isn’t enough to make this film work. James’ aloof attitude isn’t enough to save this film, even if he is paired with the lustful Richard – or Dick as he prefers to be called. Granted, these two characters do manage to get a chuckle, but that is two giggles in a film that is ninety minutes long.  

In the end, the film has a lot of ridiculous antics with a lot of really fun actors playing crucial roles and it feels like it should work, but for one reason or another, it just doesn’t. But the bottom line is that not one of the amazing actors really gauges enough vigor to make you want them to have the money. I could roll a D-20 and whoever’s number it lands on would get the money, and that wouldn’t make a difference in how I feel about the film.

The Estate is currently available to rent or purchase on Digital platforms.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqTEVmed0Bc]