Saw Labor Day, the new Jason Reitman romantic drama starring Kate Winslett and Josh Brolin (and James Van Der Beek in a bit part or cameo?). Brolin is an escaped convict who holes up in Winslett’s house (with her 12 year old son) over the long Labor Day weekend… and they fall in love.

It’s a well acted movie with a deliberate, but kind of turgid, pace… there’s a couple things in this movie that are so unbelievable that it takes me out of the movie (and this from a person who can buy Jeff Goldblum uploading a virus to an alien computer in another holiday-themed movie)… the main issue is that these two fall in love over the course of three days. But the movie is largely told from the kid’s POV so I guess we’re supposed to buy long romantic scenes that happen off-camera.

It’s stylish and well-meaning, but ultimately disappointing and tedious. Some good, suspenseful scenes scattered about so it’s not a total loss. But with the talent involved, it’s a sadness that this is the end result (I like the actors and Jason Reitman makes good flicks… Juno, Up in the Air, Thank You for Smoking).

Score: 68