Inheritance – Movie Review (3/5)

INHERITANCE is a thriller-mystery starring Lily Collins and an almost unrecognizable Simon Pegg. It’s dark and intriguing for the most part, which is enough to make it worth your time – despite some irritating elements. Read more in our full Inheritance review here!

INHERITANCE is a new thriller-mystery starring Lily Collins and Simon Pegg. The two work wonderfully together and the whole cat-and-mouse game is full of intriguing mind games.

The plot of this movie is dark and fascinating, but it’s also a bit too light and easy for my liking. It could easily have gone much darker and focused on some elements that were skipped a bit too quickly. I don’t think it ruined the movie, but it did keep from making it more memorable and having more of a lasting impact.

Continue reading our full Inheritance review below.

Watch it for the wonderful cast

I’ve loved Simon Pegg ever since Shaun of the Dead (2004) – and I suspect I’m far from the only one. He’s made a career out of playing goofy, lovable characters who tend to make lots of mistakes but never mean any harm. In Inheritance, we get to see a very different side of him.

First of all, he looks visibly different with a much lighter frame (he lost weight down to having just 8% body fat) and lots of long gray hair. More than his appearance though, his character is a very different creature from the off-beat and nerdy characters, Simon Pegg has portrayed in the past. This time, you never know quite where you have him!

Lily Collins does an excellent job of portraying the eldest child in the family, who inherits the burden that is Simon Pegg’s character. I am, however, saddened by the fact that she constantly has to switch between being smart and tough then crying and hysterical. Also, we don’t see her nearly enough with her husband and child – or even in her high-power job!

Finally, I have to mention Connie Nielsen. She plays the mother of Lauren (Lily Collins) and has a smaller role in Inheritance, but should definitely be memorable. And honestly, Connie Nielsen is perfect in anything noir. Just as she was in the Patty Jenkins mini-series I Am the Night on TNT.

However, I will say that I would have liked more scenes with Connie Nielsen. That can never hurt. She’s Wonder Woman’s mom, for crying out loud.

Watch Inheritance on VOD and DVD now!

Vaughn Stein is the director of Inheritance. Prior to making this movie, he directed the crime-thriller Terminal (2018) which also starred Simon Pegg. However, for that movie, Margot Robbie was the female lead. Up next, Vaughn Stein will be coming out with the thriller You Belong to Me starring Michelle Monaghan (Messiah) and Sam Claflin (The Nightingale).

While Vaughn Stein is relatively new as a director of his own movie, he has worked as an assistant director on some huge productions in the past. These include World War Z and even the cult horror-comedy Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009).

Matthew Kennedy wrote the screenplay for Inheritance and this is his first writing credit. He does, however, have a new screenplay in development. It’s called A Man Called Death and is also a mystery-thriller. Overall, I liked a lot of the style of the plot in Inheritance, but I need more depth of character. Hopefully, this will happen with his future scripts!

Look, if you like Simon Pegg, then you cannot (or certainly, should not) miss out on the opportunity to see him in a very different role. This movie is entertaining and keeps you guessing, but doesn’t run as deep as I would have liked. Will I watch it again? I doubt it. Am I happy I watched it? Absolutely!

Inheritance is out on DVD and VOD in the US, Canada, and the UK now.

Details

Director: Vaughn Stein
Writer: Matthew Kennedy
Cast: Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Connie Nielsen, Chase Crawford, Patrick Warburton, Marque Richardson, Michael Beach