The Gateway (2021)

My quick rating - 4.1/10. Too bad those behind the camera destroyed a fairly decent idea in this one. The movie just moves at a snail's pace and never realizes the potential it had. I like the idea of the overly interested social worker wanting to do well for a family. BUT then the writer (one of whom directed, so he is to blame for this) turns Shea Whigham into every other character flaw known to man wrapped up in one. So instead of maybe an over-zealous, possibly drunk, he also happens to have anger issues, drug problems, emotionally scarred, and I am sure there are more. Not only is it too much to believe, but also way too much for this particular actor to try and convince us. The rest of the cast is actually quite good. Olivia Munn stands out since not only is she believable as the mother wrapped up with the wrong guy, but also makes you care about what is happening, especially during the extremely drawn-out and pointless scenes. I cannot see why so much time is wasted on useless scenes and so little time is paid to the husband, who comes straight out of jail and immediately hits up the old boss (Frank Grillo) for another heist. Grillo is rarely in the flick, and the whole point of the crew is hardly explained. The robbery itself is more of an afterthought to what is going on, and all this gets wrapped up with like a 5-minute "lesson" being taught about the foster system at the end, which was more of a slap in the face to them than a wake-up call to the viewer. Lots of wasted talent on this one, and a generous 4 from me.

The Gateway (2021)

#thriller #jackmeatsflix #IMDB #Plex