No matter what the subject matter at hand is, throwing it into a family dynamic automatically adds an additional level of intensity, uncomfortableness, and familiarity. Usually, the best versions of these dynamics focus on some terrible tragedy past or present that the family members have to overcome or evolve from as a unit or separately, bringing a level of impact that just resonates with audiences more often than not, even when it’s something not inherently familiar. There are plenty of modern examples that look at this dynamic well, like A Real Pain (2024), Carnage (2011), and Mass (2021), however these films essentially focus on two to four characters with a few extra on the side. Edward Burns (She’s the One; The Brothers McMullen) takes the family drama and cranks it up to a Spinal Tap-11 of anxiety and intensity, mostly firing on all cylinders, but, like reality, not everything is clean and satisfying at the end of it all in his newest film Millers in Marriage.
L-R: Gretchen Molas as Eve and Julianna Margulies as Maggie in the drama MILLERS IN MARRIAGE. Photo courtesy of Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
The film focuses on the Millers themselves featuring Andy (Edward Burns) who just left his 15-year marriage to Tina (Morena Baccarin) as she was too much for him to handle in his now fifth century of life, and he has decided to settle down with someone who wants something more casual (no family) and relaxing in Renee (Minnie Driver). However, the stress doesn’t leave him just because he ended things with Tina, as his sister, Eve (Gretchen Mol), a former musician, has a turbulent relationship with her music manager husband, Scott (Patrick Wilson), who disappears for days at a time without so much as a phone call, leaving her worried. Lastly for the Millers, there is Maggie (Julianna Margulies), who is experiencing an empty-nester depression that she can only express in her written work as she is an author, and her husband Nick (Campbell Scott). Everyone had some form of adventure prior to their marriages taking off, and now that those marriages have blossomed and potentially died, everyone’s feeling the grind and that mid-life crisis, and it becomes a rather ugly and messy affair. While there are certainly some external circumstances that add to the tumultuous nature of this journey, specifically in the form of Johnny (Benjamin Bratt), who turns out has always had a “thing” for Eve and wants to interview her for his new book, but of course this ruffles some feathers and creates more tensions between Eve and Scott, as well as everyone else, as they’re all family.
L-R: Morena Baccarin as Tina and Edward Burns as Andy in the drama MILLERS IN MARRIAGE. Photo courtesy of Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
There is a lot to process and digest in the near-two-hour running time as Burns tries to tell these stories about six adults in three separate couples and some interference from outside parties. There is a lot to keep track of in each of the individual stories and the problems they are all going though. However, making the tensions boil over the most between the sisters’ relationships and not his own character’s creates dynamics and draw clear lines between the good and the bad and define who the true villains are of the story. This is not to say that the script itself is a weak point. It isn’t. It’s mirroring how messy life is and how sometimes the mess gets lost in translation — that’s the largest fault. The mess of life that Burns conveys in Millers of Marriage feels very loose and unrestricted, which is, in reality, accurate, making the audience a fly on the wall among these relationships, offering some distance but leaving less opportunity for an escape.
Campbell Scott as Nick in the drama MILLERS IN MARRIAGE. Photo courtesy of Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
The brightest part, by far, of Millers in Marriage, is the outstanding ensemble cast that brings Burns’s script and direction to life. Baccarin (Deadpool), Margulies (Stand Up Guys), Bratt (Miss Congeniality), Driver (Grosse Pointe Blank), Burns (Confidence), Mol (Manchester by the Sea), Wilson (The Conjuring), and Scott (Dead Again), along with Brian d’Arcy James (First Man), all shine bright throughout and help create this tense, messy, and slightly off-centered drama about what happens when you reach middle age and life starts to change. If Millers in Marriage had tightened the story a little bit more and cut some of the excess out from side plots, just focusing on the issues between the couples at hand, it would’ve created a much more tense setting, but everyone in the cast gave their all, especially Patrick Wilson, who typically doesn’t play a scumbag, but he does it excellently here.
L-R: Brian d’Arcy James as Dennis and Julianna Margulies as Maggie in the drama, MILLERS IN MARRIAGE. Photo courtesy of Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
Edward Burns creates a tense family drama that he stars in as well as writes and directs. If he stepped back a little and cut some of the excess out of the script, it would’ve been nearly flawless. However, even with the excess and a little bit of added nonessentials, the cast more than shine throughout and create a stressful world for the audience to sit and stew in, unable to escape the realities that Millers in Marriage doesn’t shy away from.
In theaters and streaming February 21st, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Paramount Pictures Republic Pictures webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews, streaming
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