The Humans: Tony-winning, post 9/11 family dinner drama makes smooth transition to the screen

By Karen Gordon

Rating: A

For better or worse, families become their own cultures, with their own rituals, beliefs, inter-relationships, and myths. 

Therefore, especially when the children are adults living their lives, occasions like Thanksgiving can be comforting or angst-laden.  Or sometimes both.

And in Stephen Karam’s adaptation of his Tony award winning play The Humans - which is also his film directorial debut – the playwright explores the invisible cords that keep people together. 

Erik (Richard Jenkins) and his daughter’s boyfriend Richard (Stephen Yeun) share an awkward moment.

Set in post 9-11 Manhattan, the Blake family - parents Erik, (Richard Jenkins) and Deirdre (Jayne Houdyshell reprising her Tony Award winning role), grandmother Momo, (June Squibb), and the elder of two daughters Aimee (Amy Schumer) - are gathering at the new apartment of their youngest daughter Brigid (Beanie Feldstein).  

Brigid and her boyfriend Richard (Steven Yeun) have just moved into their first apartment together, a two level basement apartment in Chinatown. It’s barely furnished because the moving van is delayed in Queens. But a card table, some folding chairs and a small sofa is enough to allow them to host their first Thanksgiving together as a couple.   

The quiet Richard has cooked a wonderful looking meal, and he and Brigid are full of the kind of energy you have with the excitement of new beginnings, when it feels like all of life is in front of you. 

The place has character, but there are lots of problems, peeling paint, strange noises, inconsistent electricity that plunges them into darkness at random, weak wi-fi, and on and on. 

The apartment is in a rougher area of town that flooded after the hurricane, and Erik, who is anxious and fretful to start with, worries a lot, and out loud. 

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Karam moves his characters around the apartment in ways that seem natural, especially in families that are comfortable with each other. It gives us insight into the bonds here. But as we get to know them, the flaws in the apartment are mirrored in the issues of each of the characters. 

There’s a lot of love here, but it has been a rough year, especially for Erik and Deirdre, and as the evening unfolds, individual’s problems, and some secrets come tumbling out. 

Translating dramatic plays, even really successful ones, to the movies isn’t always successful.  What is powerful for a live audience, can be the opposite on screen, seeming forced or over the top. And even in a movie, it’s easier to have characters triggered into screaming matches at key moments. 

But Karam, who wrote the screenplay adaptation of his play, has done an excellent job here, showing restraint, keeping the action, moving both physically and emotionally, without pushing his characters into overheated reactions, or speechifying.  

And in this character-driven story, it’s then on the actors to get it right. And this superb cast delivers. Some of them we know are excellent in dramatic performances: Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, June Squibb, and Steven Yeun. Meanwhile, some are better known for comedy and are a revelation here, Beanie Feldstein and, especially Amy Schumer. 

Family ties is the overarching theme here, but the setting in post 9-11 Manhattan is a quiet hum underneath life for both Richard and Amy. They were both in the city that day, visiting from their home town of Scranton. He was there for the first time, going along with Amy as she went for a job interview. What was meant to be a father and daughter bonding experience, has had lingering consequences for both.   

Subtlety is the strength of The Humans. It is an intelligent even-handed drama where the family’s issues aren’t played to the point where they’re gruelling and destructive. Rather, they show us something more ordinary and therefore more truthful. 

The Humans, written and directed by Stephen Karam. Stars Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, June Squibb, Steven Yeun, Beanie Feldstein and Amy Schumer. Opening in theatres Friday, November 26 in select cities, including Toronto (Fox Theatre & digital TIFF Bell Lightbox), and Vancouver (VIFF Connect)

 Also available November 26 to rent or buy on the Apple TV app/iTunes and other VOD platforms.