''Boundaries'' is a 2018

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written and directed by

Shana Feste Shana Feste (born August 28, 1975) is an American film director and screenwriter. She has directed and written '' The Greatest'', ''Country Strong'', '' Endless Love'', ''Boundaries'', ''Run Sweetheart Run'', and also has writing credits for '' ...

and distributed by

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produce ...

and

Mongrel Media Mongrel Media is an independent Canadian film distributor established in 1994 by Hussain Amarshi. It is the exclusive Canadian theatrical distributor for Sony Pictures Classics, Neon, and Lionsgate and titles from A24, Amazon Studios, Saban Fil ...

. Its story follows a mother named Laura and her 14-year-old son Henry, who are forced to drive Laura's irresponsible, marijuana dealing father cross-country after being thrown out of his nursing home. It stars

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films ''The Conjuring'' (2013), ''The Conjuring 2'' (2016), ''Annabelle Comes ...

Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...

Lewis MacDougall Lewis John Moir MacDougall (born 5 June 2002) is a Scottish film actor. He made his film debut in the fantasy film '' Pan'' (2015). He subsequently starred in the fantasy tragedy film '' A Monster Calls'' (2016), and the road trip drama film ' ...

Bobby Cannavale Roberto Michael Cannavale (; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for various television roles, including leading roles in '' Third Watch'', '' Vinyl'', and ''Mr. Robot'', as well as recurring roles in '' Will & Grace'', which ...

Kristen Schaal Kristen Joy Schaal (; born January 24, 1978) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her voice roles as Louise Belcher on ''Bob's Burgers'' and Mabel Pines on ''Gravity Falls''. She's also known for playing Mel on '' ...

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

, and

Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor. He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He was a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s. Fond ...

. The film was produced by Automatik Entertainment. It premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

on March 12, 2018 and was released in the United States on June 22, 2018, and in Canada on July 6, 2018. It grossed $29,552 during its opening weekend and $755,977 worldwide. This was the final film featuring Peter Fonda to be released during his lifetime.

Synopsis

Laura (Farmiga), along with her teenaged son Henry (MacDougall), is forced to drive her

pot Pot may refer to: Containers * Flowerpot, a container in which plants are cultivated * Pottery, ceramic ware made by potters * A type of cookware Places * Ken Jones Aerodrome, IATA airport code POT * Palestinian Occupied Territories, the W ...

-dealing father Jack (Plummer) from Seattle to her sister's house in Los Angeles after he is kicked out of a retirement home.

Cast

Production

Development

In April 2016, it was announced that

and

would portray lead roles in the drama film ''Boundaries'', with

directing from her own screenplay. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Bailey Conway were reported to be producing under the American production company Automatik Entertainment, with Chris Ferguson and Kenneth Burke producing under the Canadian production company Oddfellows Entertainment. In May 2016,

, and

Dolly Wells Dorothy Perpetua Wells (born Gatacre; 5 December 1971)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, vol. III, 2003, pg 3046 is an English actress and writer. She co-wrote and starred in the Sky Living series '' Doll & Em'' (2014–2015) with Emil ...

were also cast in the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began on May 2, 2016 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, and was completed on June 3, 2016.

Music

In February 2017, it was reported that Michael Penn would compose the film's score.

Release

In May 2016,

Stage 6 Films Stage 6 Films, Inc. is an American film production label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions that acquires and produces feature films that are low budget and that are being released straight-to-DVD, on demand, or through streaming services. S ...

acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film.

distributed the film in the United States. ''Boundaries'' had its world premiere at

on March 12, 2018. It was released in the United States on June 22, 2018.

Peter Fonda controversy

On June 20, 2018, Sony Pictures Classics condemned comments Peter Fonda made about President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

's young son Barron on Twitter the previous day, but announced that they would not edit the film or change its release schedule, noting that Fonda "plays a very minor role."

Reception

Box office

''Boundaries'' made $29,995 from five theaters in its opening weekend, for an average of $5,910 per venue. ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...

'' called it a "moderate start" while LifeZette called the film a "flop" and in-part blamed Fonda's association.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Boundaries'' benefits from a stellar performance by the reliably excellent Christopher Plummer, but his work is overwhelmed by the mediocre movie that surrounds it." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boundaries (film) 2018 films Films directed by Shana Feste Films scored by Michael Penn Films about old age Films set in Texas Films set in California Films shot in Vancouver 2010s road comedy-drama films American road comedy-drama films Canadian road comedy-drama films Stage 6 Films films Sony Pictures Classics films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s Canadian films