The Present

A cinema release without any prior reviews on a few major websites?! How about that!
Mason Shea Joyce
I gotta say, 'The Present' surprised me big time! The lack of awareness that I had for it prior to watching (to be expected based on the earlier mentioned, evidently), a bog-standard poster and a meh-sounding premise meant that I wasn't expecting much from this 2024 flick. However, I had a seriously good time viewing it!

It's, in my opinion, a well crafted movie and, unexpectedly, quite amusing, it is also extremely touching when all is said and done. Isla Fisher and Greg Kinnear make for a solid onscreen pairing, while the trio of youngsters in Shay Rudolph, Easton Rocket Sweda and Mason Shea Joyce - even if the latter has less to work with - all give good performances.

One bad thing about me leaving the first review is if everyone else dislikes this, so here's hoping that a barrage low-rated reviews aren't forthcoming!😆 Hey-ho, I had fun with it and that's all I can say!

I went into this movie with low expectations. I was wrong... Heartfelt, loving, an emotional mess, but great nonetheless. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie.

The Present (2024) - ❤x7

It's a bit silly - but it is quite heart-warming. It's worth a watch.


How I rate:
1-3 ❤ = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 ❤ = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 ❤ = I expect you will like this too
9-10 ❤ = movies and TV shows I really love!

Predictable and safe film. I feel like a lot of positive reviews liked it for its simple message and feel good story. Easy to have on in the background or watch on a rainy day.

Having said that, I liked how the movie showed each family member's day. The issue was it was clear things got difficult to cover everyone. I think I was over 2/3rds of the way through the movie before they introduced the last child who I had pretty much forgot about. I feel bad for the actor, it felt very much like his parts were cut or were kept to minimum. Almost as if a fifth member was needed to hit a specific runtime by padding the story a little more.


The looming "threat" was never clear and felt super vague. Again, great for a child's movie but an eye roll for adults. If they use the power too much it will break, but then near the end of the movie they cut to a [spoiler]montage of wasted days[/spoiler] like they were giving up or didn't take the immediate concern seriously. If they didn't, why should we as the audience?

Lastly, realistically, it didn't feel like the issues they kept experiencing were ever really resolved. If it wasn't that day, then the next day or even the next week [spoiler]the dad would find out about the hot guy in the mom's class being flirtly and/or the mom would find out about the dad looking at "bachelor pads". It didn't happen that day in the final take, but the film showed us multiple times when either parent eventually found out everything fell apart. Seems like that is/was the reality, their marriage was doomed. Instead they slapped a happy ending (just don't think about it) on to the movie.[/spoiler]

This could’ve been a real cute family film, but it was kinda dumb and annoying with the choices these kids made.

Like they’re trying to get their parents to not announce they’re splitting up so they go around sabotaging everything with smashing car windows, destroying a home, making someone have an allergic reaction where they can’t breathe, stealing phones… like if your kids are doing this to stop a separation, then that’s pretty messed up lol

Anyways, child so… Isla Fisher is a queen! Love her