''Last Weekend'' is a 2014 American comedy/drama film starring

Patricia Clarkson Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades incl ...

Zachary Booth Zachary Booth (born 1983) is an American actor. He appeared in several productions with the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire, before starring in The N's ''What Goes On'' and on FX's ''Damages''. Booth is a 2004 BFA graduate of ...

, and

Joseph Cross Joseph or Joe Cross may refer to: People * Joseph Cross (actor) (born 1986), American actor * Joseph Cross (cartographer) (1821–1865), English cartographer * Joseph Cross (cricketer) (1849–1918), English cricketer * Joseph Cross (judge) (1843� ...

. The film premiered at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

on May 2, 2014. In May, the film was acquired for theatrical release and iTunes/VOD on August 29, 2014 by IFC/Sundance Selects. The film will also open the Provincetown International Film Festival on June 18, 2014. ''Last Weekend'' was filmed entirely on location in

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was the first feature film in thirteen years to be shot entirely in the area.

Synopsis

When an affluent matriarch (

) gathers her dysfunctional family on Labor Day weekend at their Northern California lake house, her carefully constructed weekend begins to fall apart at the seams, leading her to question her own role in the family.

Cast

as Celia Green *

as Theo Green *

as Roger Green *

Chris Mulkey Chris Mulkey (born May 3, 1948) is an American film and television actor. Career Mulkey played the supporting role of husband to Annie Potts's character in '' Any Day Now'' from 1998 to 2002. He has also appeared in '' Captain Phillips'', '' ...

as Malcolm Green * Devon Graye as Luke Caswell * Alexia Rasmussen as Vanessa Sanford *

Rutina Wesley Rutina Wesley (born December 21, 1978) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on the HBO television series ''True Blood'', and Nova Bordelon on OWN’s ''Queen Sugar''. Early life and education Wesley was born ...

as Nora Finley-Perkins *

Jayma Mays Jamia Suzette "Jayma" Mays is an American actress. She is known for playing Emma Pillsbury in the Fox musical series '' Glee'' (2009–2015) and for her starring roles in the films ''Red Eye'' (2005), '' Paul Blart: Mall Cop'' (2009) and ''Th ...

as Blake Curtis *

Judith Light Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of ''A Doll's House''. Her breakthrough role was in the ABC daytime soap opera ...

as Veronika Goss *

Julio Oscar Mechoso Julio Oscar Mechoso (May 31, 1955 – November 25, 2017) was an American actor who played detective Ruiz in '' Bad Boys'' and appeared in such films as ''Blue Streak'', ''Jurassic Park III'', ''The Legend of Zorro'', '' The Lost City'', '' Li ...

as Hector Castillo *

Mary Kay Place Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress, singer, director, and screenwriter. She is known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy ...

as Jeannie * Sheila Kelley as Vivian *

Julie Carmen Julie Carmen (born April 4, 1954) is an American actress, dancer and a licensed psychotherapist. She came to prominence onscreen in the 1980s, for her role in John Cassavetes' film, ''Gloria'' (1980), opposite Gena Rowlands. Acting Carmen was ...

as Maria Castillo *

Fran Kranz Francis Elliott Kranz (born July 13, 1981) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his portrayal of Topher Brink in the science fiction drama series ''Dollhouse''. He had prominent roles in the films ''The Cabin in the Woods'' an ...

as Sean Oakes * Ray O'Brien as Paramedic

Reception

In the United States'

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, the

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, in the score where the site staff categorizes the opinions of

independent media Independent media refers to any media, such as television, newspapers or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Within the United States and other developed ...

and

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...

only positive or negative, the film has an approval rating of 38% calculated based on 21 critics reviews. By comparison, with the same opinions being calculated using a

weighted arithmetic mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, the score achieved is 4.3/10. On another aggregator,

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which calculates review scores using only a weighted arithmetic average of certain outlets across most mainstream media, has a score of 40/100, achieved based on 10 press ratings attached to the site , with the indication of "mixed or average reviews". In his review in

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

, Drew Hunt gave it a 1/4 rating saying that "the film's attempt at political commentary amounts to a half-baked treatise on good governance in the face of tyranny and socioeconomic exploitation." In

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

, David Rooney said that it "is too muted in its catharsis and too overcrowded with superfluous characters to be fully satisfying, but the delicate central performance keeps it watchable."

References

External links

Last Weekend Official Movie Site
* {{IMDb title, 2435458
Last Weekend in DeadLine.com

Last Weekend in Thewrap.com

Last Weekend - Blogs.IndieWire.com
2014 films 2014 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films set in California Films shot in California 2010s English-language films 2010s American films