An eerie romance story, Labor Day uses the characters of a divorcee and an escaped prisoner to illustrate an extremely unconventional and somewhat unrealistic romance story.

13 year-old-Henry Wheeler (Gattlin Griffith) lives with his mother, Adele (Kate Winslet) in a small town in New Hampshire. Adele, a depressed divorcee, is only emotionally supported by her young son and only leaves the house on her once-a-month shopping trip with Henry. Henry’s father left a few years prior, only to start a family with his new wife after Adele became depressed. One day, during Henry and Adele’s monthly shopping spree, a man (Josh Brolin) approaches Henry, bleeding from his hip, asking for a ride. After somewhat threatening Adele and Henry, they agree, and they take the man back to their house. Soon finding out that this man, Frank, is an escaped prisoner, Adele and Henry begin to feel wary about his presence in their house. However, over the course of a few days throughout Labor Day weekend, he earns their trust, and Adele and Josh find love when and where they least expect it.

The Juno and Thank You for Smoking director Sam Reitman both directed and adapted the screenplay from Joyce Maynard’s novel of the same name. The pacing of the story was well done – at no point did I feel as if the story was going too quickly or slowly. However, some aspects of the plot were extremely unrealistic – the notion of being able to fall in love in five days was a little too far-fetched. That being said, the genres of romance and thriller were somewhat combined in Labor Day – which are two genres not usually combined, and the audience can’t help but to care about Adele and Frank. This unique story was well executed, thanks to both the author as well as the director.

Considering Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin both starred as the lead roles, it’s almost guaranteed to have spectacular and lovely acting – which it did. However, these A-list actors almost seemed overqualified for this film. Labor Day was very simply created, and it’s mostly a simple film. Considering Winslet and Brolin’s past film repertoire, they both could have starred in another, more complex, film.

Young actor, Gattlin Griffith, did a superb job in the film. The entire story is told from his character, Henry’s, point of view. A mystery-romance story told from the eyes of a 13-year old boy is very uncommon – but both the overall film and Griffith did a wonderful job at portraying a thriller-romance from the eyes of a young teenager.

Labor Day is an interesting film, however, there’s not much to be missed if you don’t see it in theaters. Winslet, Brolin, and Griffith will all go on to act in better, more exciting and dramatized films. Although it’s a step back for Reitman, Labor Day isn’t a total misfire – but merely just a small bump in the road on the way to better films.

Grade: B-

Rated: PG-13 (for for thematic material, brief violence and sexuality)

Labor Day opens in theaters on January 31, 2014.