Adulthood (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – Siblings Megan and Noah discover a dead body, long buried in their parents’ basement, sending them down a rabbit hole of crime and murder.

My Take – Though he continues to be best known for playing Bill S. Preston, Esq., in the ‘Bill & Ted‘ science fiction comedy films, and for his role as Marko in the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys, unknown to most, over the years, Alex Winter has had a wide career directing smaller films (that weirdly also includes two live-action Ben 10 flicks), TV shows and socially conscious documentaries.

And while he has mostly stuck to comedies for directorial feature works, his latest adds the notion of skeletons in the family closet quite literally into the mix.

In this case is the discovery of a seriously decomposed body by adult siblings behind one of the basement walls of their childhood home. Forcing them to reassess their seemingly conventional upbringing. And though the idea holds considerable noir-tinged promise and a cast of colorful characters keep it all reasonably engaging, the film ultimately falls short of reaching its full potential.

Working from a screenplay by the script by Michael M.B. Galvin (Fat Kid Rules the World), the first half of the film contains a quirky blend of increasingly grisly goings-on, but from there on the predictable plotting and the generally flat handling of the story, which tackles big ideas like morality and family dysfunction, makes it an exercise in patience.

Though clearly meant to be humorous, it’s never funny enough to succeed as a dark comedy. And where it leans on the more brutal aspects of its story to drive the plot, it’s never harrowing enough to work as a thriller.

Sure, it will probably work for some as a crowd-pleasing black comedy. However, for the rest, it will ultimately result in a less-than-stellar viewing experience.

The story follows Noah (Josh Gad) and Meg (Kaya Scodelario), siblings with contrasting personalities. Noah is a failing screenwriter still relying on the support of their mother Judy (Ingunn Omholt), and spends his time smoking weed and watching porn, while Megan is dedicated to her own family and runs a small business, the more mature and put-together sibling.

But when their mother is hospitalized due to a stroke and the two show up at her place to clean out her things, they realize that their parents’ secrets are literally both buried and hit close to home, discovering the skeleton of their neighbor who had gone missing many years ago in the walls of the basement.

Though their initial reaction is to contact the authorities, in order to protect their family’s reputation and finances, they decide against it. Instead choosing to dump the body in a quarry.

But of course, the pair’s attempts to bury the past only cascade into further collateral damage and ethical compromise, as their efforts not just draw the attention of the local police but also an opportunistic caretaker called Grace (Billie Lourd) and a cousin named Bodie (Anthony Carrigan) who is eager to get into Meg and Noah’s lives.

Here, director Winter strives to hit a certain manic energy fitting for the escalating situation in the film, but it never reaches a full-on delirium that would suit its outlandish premise, even in its best moments. Instead, the pacing of Adulthood is rather staid, even as Noah and Meg find themselves in deeper and deeper trouble with every ill-advised decision.

Personally, I believe the film could’ve been a lot more effective if it lingered on the emotional impact of the situation. It feels like director Winter wanted to do that, but writer Michael M.B. Galvin‘s script often insists on adding levity that only further confuses the tone and never quite lands.

Yes, the plot escalations could have helped a neo-noir form take shape, but due to the uneven tone, it ends up feeling labored and forced. For example, Grace’s scorched-earth hatred for the siblings, strong enough to drive her aggressive blackmail, comes across as unearned. Neither the script nor the direction builds enough looming menace to make her character believable.

Indeed, the film is laced with an intriguing concept that veers into violent absurdities born of people trying to maintain a handle on a situation they don’t totally understand, but the experience here is just too flat, even on its own terms. And by the time the film turns off autopilot, it’s far too late, and the ending lands with an abrupt denouement that feels jarringly disconnected rather than organic to the storytelling.

Performance wise, Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario manage to be good enough, even when they are hampered by thinly drawn characters, leaving them little to do. Gad playing a pitch-perfect man-child who can’t help but notice that his life has turned into one of his unsold scripts. Meanwhile, Scodelario is convincing as a wife and mother already contending with a high-stress job and a diabetic child, who comes to rationalize that the apple might not fall far from the tree where her larcenous mama is concerned.

In supporting roles, Billie Lourd is fun as the cold and ruthless blackmailer, while Anthony Carrigan is ridiculous and often the best part of the film. On the whole, ‘Adulthood‘ is a dud suburban neo-noir dark comedy that loses itself half way through.