Wow, people, you really love those movies that share a name with holidays.
When the title for the movie Labor Day pops up, your first thought is that it surely has to be about the US holiday of the same name, right? Nope.
Then, upon seeing the release date (Jan. 31, 2014), and that it’s a Jason Reitman film, the mind starts to consider that it could be a play on words of sorts. Maybe the movie is about literally the day a pregnant woman gives birth, her labor day, if you will.
Hmm, nope again, it’s neither of those. It’s about, well, love? Maybe? Or how hard life can be? Some sorta story about second chances and overcoming your demons?
Somehow, with a convoluted storyline — a convicted murderer and a lonely divorcee and mother of one find each other and fall in love — and a title that is a stretch in trying to capture the essence of the film, this movie never quite became anything worth really remembering.
Except, of course, today — aka Labor Day — which has sent the 2014 drama up the charts and back into our hearts. OK, considering plenty of us out there maybe never even heard of the movie or knew it existed, back into our hearts is a bit of a stretch. Still, the movie has galloped up more than 50 spots on the streaming charts today, to number 35 overall, an increase of 375 percent over its standing just a day before.
Even though the couple at the heart of the story are played by British actress Kate Winslet and American heartthrob Josh Brolin, Labot Day isn’t really worth laboring over, today or any day. It’s based on a novel by the same name, written by Joyce Maynard, and yes, it does revolve around birth or at least troubles during and resulting from birth and babies, but that’s about it.
A little deeper peek into the film lets us know that Tobey Maguire is in it as well, and he narrates the movie, plus we get J.K. Simmons as well as James Van Der Beek making appearances. If that’s enough to get you going, or you just really like to watch movies that bear some semblance to the date or holiday that’s currently going on, then by all means, dive right in.
If the movie proves to be a little painstaking to labor through, though, don’t say we didn’t warn you. The movie does have a 54 percent audience score (though just a 34 percent Tomatometer score) on Rotten Tomatoes, if that leads you one way or the other as well.