Rated PG-13

HERE tells the story of a home, starting from wilderness in prehistoric times to the life of (mostly) one family. Hanks and Wright play a couple we see go from high school to retirement and the struggles they face over the years.

Zemeckis is a talented director, but he often gets distracted by gimmick filmmaking. And make no mistake, HERE’s one camera set-up perspective is the ultimate gimmick. It’s got some interesting moments, but it is loaded with challenges.

HERE tries to show a mosaic of American families, but struggles to avoid idealizing even the toughest times. And with the fly-on-the-wall perspective, too many moments feel like the stilted opening scene of a stage play. Only the acting of Hanks and Wright carry us beyond that.

As real as the human experiences are in this film, this reality reveals too many insufferable characters I couldn’t care less about.

Technically impressive but dull from the story perspective, HERE gets two bay windows out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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