Newcomer Gattlin Griffith plays Henry in Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, a boy on the cusp of adolescence who takes care of his depressed mother, Adele (Kate Winslet), after her husband moves in with a new family. During Adele’s monthly trip to the city, a strange bleeding man (Josh Brolin) asks Henry for a ride. He coerces his way into their car and eventually into their house. He’s an escaped convict, looking for a place to hide. He’s kind and understanding, but also manipulative. He asks them to trust him. These scenes that kick off Labor Day are promising enough, with Josh Brolin’s Boorman-esque malevolent killer infiltrating the Spielbergian lower middle-class household (it’s set in the 80s). But, as one might expect from a high profile piece of Oscar bait like this, the rough edges are rubbed off.

Soon enough, Frank becomes a part of the family, taking care of Adele and Henry in a way that his real father never could (so basically, playing catch and fixing the car). These scenes cement Reitman’s obsession with the nuclear family. Between Labor Day and Up in the Air (and, I suppose, pregnant teen tale Juno), Reitman has positioned himself as Hollywood’s conservative moralist, fixating on transgressions from the heterosexual family unit as deviations from a “happy” life. In the film’s weakest scene, Frank shows Adele and Henry how to bake a peach pie. “Let’s put a roof on this house” he tells them as he puts on the topping. While the performances of Labor Day are fine and it’s handsomely staged, Jason Reitman has a habit of hammering home questionable themes with obnoxious dialogue, even when cohort Diablo Cody isn’t involved.

Labor Day will screen at the Ryerson Theatre on Saturday, September 7 at 6:00pm and again at the same time next Saturday. It will also play at the TIFF Bell Lightbox at 9:00am on Sunday, September 8.

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Alan Jones writes about film for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @alanjonesxxxv.

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