Movie Review - Little Accidents

Little Accidents (2015)

Starring Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Lofland, Josh Lucas, and Chloë Sevigny

Directed by Sara Colangelo

***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

Inherently, there's nothing particularly wrong with Little Accidents, a film from first-time writer-director Sara Colangelo.  It's fairly well made and well acted, but Colangelo's film is so heavy that it lacks a drive to push its story forward.  An overwhelming sense of depression looms over everything which, in and of itself, would normally be fine except for the fact that here there isn't quite enough story to merit its existence as a feature film.

As the film opens, we are told of a horrible mining accident that killed all men in the mine with the exception of Amos Jenkins (Boyd Holbrook) who is now trying to return to work unsuccessfully thanks to the injuries he sustained.  On the other side of town, we find Diana Doyle (Elizabeth Banks), wife to mine executive Bill (Josh Lucas) who is being investigated by the company for possibly causing the horrible accident.  At the same time, however, Diana and Bill are faced with the heartbreaking fact that their teenage son JT has gone missing.  Only one person knows where JT has gone and that's young teen Owen Briggs (Jacob Lofland) who is harboring a secret that eats at him every day.

Amos, Diana, and Owen's stories end up intertwining, but rather than seem overly natural, their relationships feel as if they were put together strictly to make a better movie.  It's not that it ever feels overly forced, it's simply that it always seems overly happenstance that these three individuals have relationships with one another.  I never felt particularly comfortable with any aspect of this triangular interaction.

Colangelo gets some nice subdued performances from everyone, but she's not able to drive the narrative forward in a satisfying way.  The film overstays its welcome by about half its running time and the ending, while yielding an appropriate conclusion for each character, somehow feels oddly unsatisfying.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-