Main cast: Chris Baker (George Viscunini), Eliza Coupe (Lux Viscunini), Greg Finley (Joe), Lala Kent (Caitlin Cox), Heather Matarazzo (Mary), Rif Hutton (Peter Ellison), and Eric Roberts (Marcello Viscunini)
Director: James Kapner
George Viscunini and his stepmother Lux have been banished by his wealthy father Marcello to one of his properties, the worst one. Worse, word got out that Marcello has completely cut off his latest wife and son out of his will, so the two are now shunned by their peers and, ugh, have to live within their now not-so-impressive-means. When those two slum in one evening at a cheap bar downtime, both are attracted to this hot guy, Joe, although he seems straight and is interested only in Lux.
When Joe overhears Lux and George discussing how they’d love to see Marcello dead, he reveals that he’s an assassin, sorry, hit man, and he’d be happy to help them out. They succeed, but unfortunately, they learn that Marcello has leave most of his wealth to some daughter that George and Lux have not even heard of until then. It looks like they need Joe to help them commit another murder…
The Estate is marketed as a dark comedy and thriller, but the “dark comedy” part soon evaporates and is replaced by farce, and that’s the biggest shame about this movie. It starts out like a satire, as George and Lux are narcissistic twats that say things like how they are rich and white, so they can definitely get away with killing someone. There is some bite and wit in the first 30 minutes of this movie, and I am riveted.
However, things soon give way to some third-rate effort at throwing twists and counter-twists at me. Conversations and antics of the characters go from satire to what seems like irony-free fidelity to being vapid and shallow. Chris Baker wrote the script, so he attempts to give his character some semblance of depths by making him and Joe a more “real” couple, which is unfortunate because Lux is the far more interesting character of the murderous Viscunini duo, but she has to be disposed off to make way for the far less interesting Joe and George running around in tiny underwear show.
By the time the movie ends, I feel that it has long outstayed its welcome by at least an hour, as all the wit and signs of intelligent life are packed in the first 30 minutes. Everything else is just clumsy and increasingly tedious and repetitive farce. The best parts are from characters that are basically glorified cameos played by Eric Roberts and Heather Matarazzo, which sums up pretty well how much this movie has missed the bullseye when it comes to dark comedy and thriller.
