It’s not an excellent or outstanding film but definitely worth-watching. It’s a story-based film and that is its USP.
Released in 2012, People Like Us is a story of half-siblings who have had an emotionally troubled childhood due to an absent and emotionally unavailable father. Both the kids have different stories to share of their angst and fury but one thing is common in their stories – and that is, their father’s betrayal.
People Like Us opens with Sam’s ‘not working out’ relationship with his work followed by the news of his father’s passing away. Not wanting to go home to be by his mother’s side during the troubled times, he fails to confess the same to his girlfriend who does everything she can to take the flight so that he could get home in time. As we see them reach home, we see a different picture – altogether. Where Sam gets a cold welcome followed by a tight slap from his mother, Lillian, from his father’s side – there’s bad news waiting for him. Jerry, his father, has asked to deliver all the money he has left behind, $150,000, to Josh, his grandson. This is how Sam gets to know about Frankie, Josh’s mother and his half-sister.
Unwilling to handover the cash to Frankie and her son, Sam starts following her everywhere, to get more information about his newly found sister. As he gets to know her, he realizes that their feelings for Jerry are mutual and the guy couldn’t do justice to any of the families.
As Sam starts spending time with Frankie and Josh, all three start healing as each of them are fighting internal struggles. Their time together makes it a little easier for them to deal with their battles, especially for Frankie and Josh. With Sam, his frustration goes down and he starts smiling a little more. This also leads to an honest communication with his mother and eventually, a healed relationship with her where she also starts to slowly look at life in a positive light.
I won’t give away much because it would take away the fun of watching People Like Us but one thing I would like to add here is that I would like to watched a fatherly and sibling bond between Sam and Frankie then it slowly taking a romantic turn from Frankie’s side as Sam’s identity isn’t revealed to her. This sibling affection would have made the film more loveable.