Parenting is a movie that I would refer to as a flick with many ensemble actors from many great TV series coming together in a house around Poltergeist sound effects. The twist here though, isthat they do not know how to handle it which is the cleverness of The Parenting. Directed by Craig Johnson, this time around his directing lifts the mood up. I say this because of his film The Skeleton Twins where features of his tended to have a stronger and sadder approach to a family dynamic. This one is where breaking the ice and dealing with a haunted house situation are the two conflicts he tangos with. 

The film centers around a gay couple, Rohan (played by Nik Dodani) and Josh (played by Brandon Flynn). Both have found success from starring in series on Netflix. Dodani was Zahid in Atypical, and Flynn was Justin Foley in 13 Reasons Why. Each series had a background of combating new relationships in many complicated scenarios. Here they are a couple having a weekend getaway at a vacation rental in hopes of having both of their families accepting their relationship. 

The parents of Rohan are played by Edie Falco and Brian Cox. Falco is one who has tons of success from the HBO series, The Sopranos, and Cox has just concluded Succession. Their roles of the parents have those lingering personality traits that raise eyebrows. Also, the parents of Josh are played by Lisa Kudrow and Dean Norris. They seem more like the stereotypical “normal” type of parents. Regardless, the dynamics of the families are written to inspire disaster at the finest level of sheercomedic joy.

As the family comes together in their home, there is already a lot of structure and disorganization abound—a lot of that because of Rohan and Josh having constant anxiety over how the trip with their parents will go. Also, the house has started to possess some strange moving parts. The film though is not scary, it is comedic. There are some moments of dark turns, but they actually make audiences think in the terms of how bad things can get.

As the visit continues to go awry, there is room for more to go downhill in an entertaining direction. Once the house has its “poltergeist” moments, more peril ensues. A creature runs around in unexpected angles of the home. One of the parents starts to become possessive and this is where the tension rises. When this individual becomes possessive, there is more that makes The Parenting feel like the happy family vibe is not so fulfilling. None of the characters take each other seriously, especially when they do not know how to handle all the falling apart moments of the vacation. 

The film takes the comedy approach and blends in darkness to create turmoil in order to build chemistry and uniqueness. Along the lines of its casting, all of the players have a diversity among personalities that blends well for this new brand of satire and dark comedy. In many moments it finds some breed of negativity, but it does not go overboard. It has a way of correlating the many unnerving factors to be one-of-a-kind.

There is chemistry that sets the funny focuses in motion way before the story gets rolling. Josh has issues with employment which makes Rohan appear to be the bread winner. At the same time, they keep trying to think of excuses or reasoning for their parents to look at them in a lighthearted perspective. When the bad cans of worms start to open at their vacation spot, more truths are revealed. The bad blood, the errors of the vacation, and the reading between all the lies thrive fluorescently. Once the tones of annoyance and aggravation find steepness, The Parenting is a title that defines itself. All the disasters paint a portrait of how maturity is in the form of arrested development.

The Parenting is faithful in its anxiousness for common ground to be found. It is broken by the more unfortunate episodes during the vacation. At the same time, it has a form of brilliance where the story and characters do not break. It is almost perfect yet not mesmerizing. Deep down lightness and darkness play to fuel the comedy of unexpectedness. Instead of finding the sadder components as Johnson did with The Skeleton Twins, it finds the ones of mind readers and egotistical characters. In a funny approach, those personalities are twisted by the reality of what is ahead. Three out of four stars for The Parenting.