The Humans – Film Review

Erik Blake (Richard Jenkins) gathers three generations of his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls and eerie things go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare.

Stephen Karam‘s The Humans is without a doubt one of the most unique and unconventional movies of the year. Literally, nothing about this film screams Hollywood which is a good thing, but, sadly, that doesn’t mean that the film is automatically good. As a matter of fact, by the time the film’s credits came up on-screen, I exhaled a breath of sheer relief because I was glad I no longer had to spend more time with the Blake family.

They’re extremely annoying people but one thing I will say positively about this film is that the Blake family is certainly a bit relatable, and that statement will ring true for a lot of people who watch this film. Essentially, the entire film, we watch this family gather around for Thanksgiving, and, wouldn’t you know it, things don’t go as smooth as butter. There are some arguments to be had, some disagreements, lots of serious and humorous talk – so, in other words, it’s just like what family gatherings are like in real-life.

So in that regard, I seriously have to praise Karam for crafting a film that honestly does feel painfully realistic and true to how life actually is for a lot of people. Thanksgiving dinner with the family all gathered around certainly sounds like a lovely idea on paper, but when it finally comes time for it to happen, you realize just how messy it quickly becomes. But the reason why I didn’t end up liking this movie is simply that it’s tediously boring.

The whole time when you watch The Humans, you’ll be expecting something of major conflict to happen. Maybe a massive fight will eventually break out between a few people? Nope. It’s basically just “Dinner Party: The Movie”. And it would’ve been okay had the film had a ton of humor or deep, thought-provoking conversations injected into the script but those elements aren’t there, either. It’s honestly a bit confusing why so many acclaimed actors signed onto this project. I just can’t help but wonder what they saw in this film because when you boil it down, it’s really just a whole lot of nothing sprinkled with a fancy coat.

Technically, this movie is amazing. The directing from Karam is quite solid, the editing by Nick Houy is extremely fluid and you barely notice scenes transition over to the next, and the cinematography by Lol Crawley is seriously striking – it comes across as a bonafide horror movie at times.

And the acting is also quite impressive from nearly everybody involved. I’ve been a fan of Steven Yeun ever since his role as Glenn on The Walking Dead, and I’ve loved him in a ton of other projects following that show, and here, he’s also, as expected, wonderful. Beanie Feldstein is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated actresses of our generation. She’s bubbly, lovable, funny, and charming in everything she’s been in and she brings every one of those qualities yet again to this movie.

All of those ingredients still don’t make a delicious meal though, because, sadly, Karam’s script was rotten and therefore, the recipe was ruined. The Humans isn’t an abysmally bad movie by any means. You can watch it and not hate yourself but you’ll most certainly find a whole lot of better things to do in nearly two hours instead.