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Now that many of us have been at home for several weeks, we know all about family dysfunction. In Braking for Whales, a couple of siblings take their own brand of family dysfunction on the road when they’re sent on a bizarre (and quite possibly impossible) mission.
Braking for Whales hits the road with Brandon Walker (Tom Felton) and his sister, Star (Tammin Sursok). After their eccentric mother’s death, Star returns home to Iowa, where straight-laced and deeply-closeted Brandon has been taking care of the arrangements. Both need their meager inheritance to move on with their messy, complicated lives, but at the reading of the will, they discover that there’s a catch: their mother had a bizarre last wish, which forces the dysfunctional duo to take a cross-country road trip together in their mom’s old Winnebago.
As the siblings travel south from Iowa to Texas, bickering and backstabbing as they go, it won’t take long to wear on viewers’ nerves, too. He’s cranky and offended by everything and everyone, and he’s constantly attacking his sister’s behavior and life choices. She, on the other hand, is obnoxious and always highly inappropriate. She seems to thrive on offending everyone around her—and she especially loves mocking the fact that her brother insists on denying that he’s gay. She may be an adult, but she definitely doesn’t act like it—and he acts like he’s old enough to be her grandfather instead of her brother.
Of course, both characters face their own challenges, which they’re supposedly covering with their attacks on one another. Brandon wrestles with his faith and his sexuality. Star is convinced that she’s a terrible mother—that she doesn’t deserve to be a part of her young daughter’s life. Somewhere during their adventure, then, they both open themselves up to making important changes in their lives. But those changes seem too easy. They aren’t really explored or developed enough to give their story an emotionally satisfying conclusion to their crazy road trip. Instead, it’s all just long and chaotic and messy—but not really in an entertaining way.
If you’ve been stuck at home with young children who spend their days fighting and picking on each other, Braking for Whales will feel painfully familiar. It’s a whole lot of bickering and not enough resolution—and that makes it pretty exhausting. So unless you’re spending your quarantine time alone—with no one to fight with—you’ll probably want to steer clear of this dysfunctional family road trip.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
