Labor Day

A quite interesting story, but in my opinion, it is a bit dampened by too peaceful acting. Emotions literally overflow from Kate, but Josh Brolin's character could have been even more ambivalent, even rougher. Like this, it's a rather intriguing romance, but it still drags on enough to completely draw a person in and hit them in the end. (06/02/2014)

I watched Labor Day as part of a Valentine's Day event, during which a person is willing to undergo a bit of romance and score a bit in a partnership to fulfill their expectations of the holiday of lovers. This film can be simplified as "won't offend, but won't impress either." It won't offend mainly because of the presence of the central couple. Kate belongs to the elite of female character actors within her generation, and you simply believe in her as the abandoned mother. Josh Brolin could patent roles of charismatic bearded men with a tough exterior and a good heart - that's just simply him. The others play their roles as they should, and the director is capable of orchestrating it all. The problem lies in the screenplay, which does not address some things at all and only briefly touches on others. The most interesting and important aspect of the plot is the mutual discovery, building trust, and relationship between the escaped prisoner and his hostages. But that is incredibly superficial. It almost seems like Kate Winslet was just waiting for something like that and enthusiastically ended up in bed with a murderer sentenced to 18 years after a few hours. What should one think of such a character then? The psychology is simply superficial or completely unreliable. And the tacked-on romantic ending seems to come from a mediocre romance novel. Overall impression: 55%. (02/21/2014)

A whiny, drawn out, and incredibly uninspiring spectacle like something from the Sparks, where I had to spend the whole time thinking about my vacation starting the next day so I wouldn't eat my arm out of boredom. It embodies virtually every aspect of cinematic evil – guilt, fatalism, mistrust breaking into love, becoming a man, soft lights – and it's got practically zero budget. Better to read the book instead. A different one, that is. (05/19/2014)

I didn’t read the description of this movie. I just noticed that my reliables at this site didn’t rate it lower than four stars and so I thought that there must be something to it. I put on HBO and waited what Labor Day would bring. And from the start, it seemed very depressing and classic when it comes to a prison escapee. But I didn’t expect that it’d become such a drama full of love with a beautiful story flow, amazing actors and an ending that probably couldn’t have been any more beautiful. It’s just a shame that here and there, I didn’t really get a few things. For example, whether Adele’s son was adopted or biological. Since Reitman made the effort to tell her sad life story, he could have given us some closure as well. And there was a lot of those moments. But overall, it was a beautiful movie about a fated love that was worth waiting for. (03/15/2015)

Not many films today can boast such precise, focused direction. Every look of the actors, every shot, has its place. This is a long way from the "red library", as some here write. Of course, some naysayers might find it there, especially in the final climax, but there's nothing to be done about that. Kate Winslet is fantastic Josh Brolin’s charisma is enormous. (09/24/2014)