“Boundaries” Shines with stars Vera Farmiga and Christopher Plummer
By Liz Lopez
Rating: B
Writer-director Shana Feste (“Country Strong,” “Endless Love”) has created a father-daughter road movie that has both the drama and comedy that is found in most families, but with the characters in this family, what may be a pretty standard story is made very engaging by the actor’s performances as to how they handle the past and the present day challenges. Laura (Vera Farmiga) is a single mother of a shy teenage son, Henry (Lewis McDougall), who is having a hard time navigating his life at school as well as home with his Mom in therapy. As if they did not already have enough everyday problems they are dealing with, Laura’s father, Jack Jaconi (Christopher Plummer) is repeatedly calling her to tell her he is in need of a home, but not readily “fessing up” that he was booted from the senior-citizen apartment he had. Without spelling out the full story here, there is no lack of dysfunction among them, and yet, their trip from Portland to Los Angeles to visit Laura’s sister, JoJo (Kriste Schaal), is quite engaging. Maybe not everyone will identify with each of the characters, but it is always great to see how someone else may handle (or avoid) issues among the multi- generation family members. Read more »
