After a generally-maligned feature debut in 2018 with Terminal, director Vaughn Stein returns with Inheritance—a drama about the skeletons in a high-powered family’s closet that squanders all of its potential.
The film follows Lauren (Lily Collins), a high-powered District Attorney that comes from a wealthy and well-known New York family. When her father (Patrick Warburton) suddenly passes away, she’s left with a small inheritance that reflects their tense relationship and a message from him that leads to a secret bunker where a strange man named Morgan (Simon Pegg) is being held captive. Lauren finds that Morgan is connected to her father and harbors secrets that threaten to tear her family apart and ruin their name. Now, Lauren must figure out if what Morgan is saying is true and make decisions about new secrets she discovers.
Inheritance actually surprised me with the potential it builds within its first act. Lauren’s desire for justice and fairness is interesting given her family’s corruption and self-interests because of their political power. The mystery behind Morgan’s captivity is intriguing and there’s this unsureness about whether or not he’s telling the truth. Frankly, everything with Morgan is incredibly engaging (until around the third act) as the mystery behind him is made all the more captivating through the simplicity of his prison and Pegg’s surprisingly strong performance.
Pegg has never been so subtly dark as he is as Morgan and it works. There’s always this feeling that there are important details Morgan leaves out and Pegg nails someone who’s been kept captive for quite some time with how he keeps his own self-interest in mind and his almost romantic fantasies about being out of the bunker. There’s also this sense of desperation Pegg brings when Morgan talks about how a lot of his life has been taken away because of how Lauren’s father has kept him prisoner and treated him. It all comes off very believable and there was even a part of me that empathized with him for a good chunk of the film. It’s a strong performance from Pegg that carries the generic “unveiling the skeletons in your closet” plot that moves at a snail’s pace.
While Collins gives an admirable and at times interesting performance, everything with Lauren is a total drag when she’s not with Morgan. None of the secrets she uncovers about her family are all that unique, her reactions and outbursts don’t come to anything special, and no one else in the family is utilized to add more complexity to the situation. I kept wishing that someone else, like Lauren’s mother (Connie Nielsen), brother (Chace Crawford), or husband (Marque Richardson), found Morgan just to add more tension to what’s happening. Instead, everyone’s left in the dark so the potential “life-ruining” secrets end up holding no impact and the final conflict is one that comes from a twist that sends viewers into an unnecessary psychotic third act.
In short, the third act of this film takes such an unnecessary turn that not only squanders Pegg’s strong performance, but also ruins Lauren’s character arc. Pegg is forced to go full-on psycho, tanking the character’s complexity and the sense of righteousness that made Lauren kind of admirable is tossed away for a flawed arc that doesn’t fit the character and leaves viewers with a final moment that feels gross. All the potential for a decent thriller with, at the very least, a satisfying conclusion is totally thrown away for a pointless plot twist and it’s just disappointing to see.
Initially, Inheritance comes off like a secret-spilling drama you could find yourself liking, but by the time you’ve been dragged to that pointless third act, you just want to part ways with it. While I can appreciate the film for showing me a new side of Pegg that I’d like to see more of in the future, it’s the only sweet spot I can find within the bitter taste the film leaves.
