Labor Day is chaste eroticism where every scene could stand to push a few more buttons. it's an on-the-nose metaphor that inches towards hot and heavy without ever getting there. the rising of crust as it heats up in the oven. But the two have chemistry, noticeable in a soon-to-be-infamous scene where Adele and Frank bake a peach pie together. Brolin is equally stone-faced, the actor playing his younger self providing a vibrant version of himself. It gives Winslet little to do, and glimpses of Adele's pent-up sexuality suggest a character deeper than the charted territory reveals. Adele spends most of the movie wistfully gazing or dead in the face, permanently shaken up by a secret she harbors. The film is filled with tension without ever unearthing real drama. The trio of actors play out the scenario with restraint, as spine-tingling music and Reitman's slow-burn camera movements remind us that everything could collapse in a moment's notice. So they cling to him, steering closely to Stockholm Syndrome without ever crossing the line. He's the perfect man, someone Adele and Henry never thought they'd have in their lives. Frank fixes doors, he changes flat tires, he cleans gutters, he teaches Henry how to throw a baseball, and he cooks amazing food. So although he's hiding out from the ensuing manhunt, he's happy to help the downtrodden Adele and Henry around the house. Frank isn't a violent criminal - he's a man who committed a violent crime, the events of which Reitman strews across the linear story with flashbacks. After springing himself on the family at the local department store, Frank takes refuge in their home, evolving into the picturesque father figure Henry never had.

Labor Day could stand to swing back and forth with greater momentum, but Reitman has something here - it's not the great film it wants to be, but it's absorbing adult drama. Little plays out during Frank's extended stay, allowing the film to rattle between steamy and unnerving with sadistic pleasure.

Based on a book by Joyce Maynard, Reitman's romantic drama broils over one long Labor Day weekend in 1987, the lives of near-agoraphobic Adele (Kate Winslet) and her son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) interrupted by Frank (Josh Brolin), a prisoner on the run.

Labor day book review