The Estate film review — black comedy bungles promising premise

Comedy is often metaphorically likened to combat, with jokes hitting targets and performances “killing it”. Bungled black comedy The Estate, about family members competing to woo and win an inheritance from terminally ill and terminally ill-tempered Aunt Hilda (Kathleen Turner) before she pops her fluffy mules, has nothing but poor aims and misfiring gags. It’s so bad it would be funny except, tragically, it isn’t.

A skim of the cast list would lead you to expect better. Toni Collette and Anna Faris, both reliably fine comic actors, play scrappy, variably sympathetic sisters Macey and Savanna. They need Aunt Hilda’s money to prop up their failing restaurant, although it’s hardly a surprise it’s failing since they’re never there.

Just when Macey is in the middle of changing Hilda’s colostomy bag, cousin Beatrice (Rosemarie DeWitt) shows up to woo Hilda in her direction, dripping insincerity and offering the services of her chef-husband James (Ron Livingston). Slimy cousin Dick (David Duchovny) throws himself on the dogpile.

Apart from Collette’s put-upon sad sack, none of the characters are very sympathetic. That wouldn’t be a problem if writer-director Dean Craig’s script was more ruthlessly cruel with quips, or even punished them for their venality, like a good satire should. Instead, the film just offers a procession of blunted barbs, schoolyard-level snickering over the name Dick and a protracted gag involving a sex offender (played by Danny Vinson).

At least Keyla Monterroso Mejia, a young actor best known for appearances in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Abbott Elementary, manages to be amusing with her quirky turn as Macey and Savanna’s Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed stepsister. Her character may not end up with any inheritance but she wins the movie.

★★☆☆☆

In cinemas in the UK from January 13; available to stream in the US