Bloodline

Inheritance (2020) is a very basic thriller plot painfully stretched over almost 2 hours handled by the most dimwitted slasher-movie-meat characters you will ever see. Maybe it was even a slasher film repurposed as a thriller at some point.

Every scene in this is as painful and slow as possible. Everything has to be discussed, even if it's completely irrelevant. The ending is disconnected from 80% of the stuff they set up in the film.

The way it's shot it really feels like a video game cutscene, like a pre-mission GTA V dialogue where the characters discuss something they are about to do and then they just do it, but you still see and hear every line of dialogue, even if it serves no purpose whatsoever.

By the time you fast-forward to the ending and they reveal the "big twist" that renders half of the film pointless, you won't probably care because you've seen this a million times (even though so many things in this make absolutely no sense).

"Inheritance" is a direct to video mystery with a mostly unknown cast except for an almost unrecognizable Simon Pegg. 31yo Lily Collins looks much younger, like she's from one of those kids shows on Disney or Nickelodeon. She's really out of place as big city DA "Lauren Monroe", so that's a casting fail, which is a problem since she's the lead. That and other plausibility problems take you out of important moments and make this a so-so storytelling when it could've and should've been worth an 8 or 9 rating. The whole production is analogous to doodoo covered with white icing - it looks good enough to eat but heaven help you if you do! For instance, the whole initial premise that her father barely if at all really briefed her on the terrible responsibility of her inheritance just because someone might be listening in is ludicrous. Fine, you can forgive that one maybe since it launches the story but it's followed by too many subsequent implausibilities you'd have to look past to really enjoy the story itself. It's a shame, because the story concept is decent but poorly executed.

Simon Pegg is stellar as usual, but Lily Collins is terribly miscast. She is too young and juvenile to be believable in this role. She has a meekness in her voice that makes it impossible to believe she is a high-powered DA. Everything else is good, but it's really hard to sink into the story when she is so poorly suited to the role. Her acting skills are fine, she just can't pull this character off. I want to like it, it definitely sucks you in right away and keeps you enthralled, but I'm spending way more time wondering what year of college she is in, rather than believing she is a mother of a 10ish-year-old. Too bad.

The ONLY reason this absolute atrocity deemed 4 stars from me was through Simon Pegg's performance. Lily Collins was absolute dreck in this ridiculous blunder. The anorgasmic "twist" was blatantly obvious within the first hour of this bloody mess. Do yourself a favor and don't waste a moment of your precious life on this absolute rubbish of a plot.

It appears decent because it creates suspense that doesn't deliver, with serious plot holes that makes every actor unconvincing. They perform like it's a mega psychological thriller but it's just far fetched money drama. Did I mention plot holes?