Beware of stories that fail to give their characters actual real-life names as was done here: "The CEO," "The Wife," "The Robber," "The Gardener." It's a clue that the history of these characters will probably represent generic "types" and not appellations rooted in a strong verisimilitude.
Windfall is your basic home invasion tale but without the suspense usually associated with such a genre. The problem revolves around the character of The Robber (Jason Segel) who doesn't come off as a scary criminal but rather an incompetent ne'er-do-well.
After being surprised by the yuppie couple of The CEO (Jesse Plemmons) and his wife (Lily Collins) who unexpectedly show up at their posh rural-centric home, the robber tries to barricade them in a sauna in the backyard which the two easily escape from.
The robber would have been content to leave with the $5K worth of cash he stole from the home but discovers he's been caught on a surveillance camera, then realizing that he will need a significant larger amount of cash to make his getaway (presumably to a place outside the country like Mexico).
The robber orders the CEO to have $500K delivered to the house which can only be accomplished the next day.
At this juncture the story seems more like a black comedy than a tense thriller. The hip, seemingly liberal CEO's demeanor gradually morphs into arrogance as he expresses contempt for all those who refuse to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and choose instead to subsist on government handouts.
This offends the wife who had her student loans paid off by her mega-rich husband before moving up in the world following marriage to a man way above her social class.
The robber gradually reveals his motive for targeting this particular businessman-he's convinced that he's responsible for firing many workers after failing companies must be downsized due to the necessary restructuring.
Whatever comic tone is lost upon the entrance of The Gardener (Omar Leyva) who the CEO tries to warn by scribbling a note on his design for a new garden on the property.
Good farce or black comedy never "gets serious" and kills off a character which we see directly on screen-but this is what happens here. Inexplicably The Gardener attempts to flee but is impaled on a shard of glass when he falls into the glass door which leads to the back of the house.
The event is not very believable either way (the Gardener panicking or being killed by falling through the glass door).
Windfall has nowhere to go by the climax which posits a complete metamorphosis of The Wife who ridiculously kills the fleeing robber and then shoots and kills her husband!
Her staging of the murder makes little sense since even the lowest grade of detectives would have figured out things didn't add up (especially deducting that the Gardner was killed because of an accident and not murder).
Why The Wife would suddenly turn against her husband so brutally makes little sense as his "crime" of being a little arrogant was no different than any of his fellow businessmen whom the wife would have been quite familiar with.
Windfall manages to hold your interest until it all falls apart in the end. Notably none of the characters seem realistic at all-especially the principals whose personalities appear to project a decidedly negative, unlikable demeanor throughout.
Windfall is your basic home invasion tale but without the suspense usually associated with such a genre. The problem revolves around the character of The Robber (Jason Segel) who doesn't come off as a scary criminal but rather an incompetent ne'er-do-well.
After being surprised by the yuppie couple of The CEO (Jesse Plemmons) and his wife (Lily Collins) who unexpectedly show up at their posh rural-centric home, the robber tries to barricade them in a sauna in the backyard which the two easily escape from.
The robber would have been content to leave with the $5K worth of cash he stole from the home but discovers he's been caught on a surveillance camera, then realizing that he will need a significant larger amount of cash to make his getaway (presumably to a place outside the country like Mexico).
The robber orders the CEO to have $500K delivered to the house which can only be accomplished the next day.
At this juncture the story seems more like a black comedy than a tense thriller. The hip, seemingly liberal CEO's demeanor gradually morphs into arrogance as he expresses contempt for all those who refuse to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and choose instead to subsist on government handouts.
This offends the wife who had her student loans paid off by her mega-rich husband before moving up in the world following marriage to a man way above her social class.
The robber gradually reveals his motive for targeting this particular businessman-he's convinced that he's responsible for firing many workers after failing companies must be downsized due to the necessary restructuring.
Whatever comic tone is lost upon the entrance of The Gardener (Omar Leyva) who the CEO tries to warn by scribbling a note on his design for a new garden on the property.
Good farce or black comedy never "gets serious" and kills off a character which we see directly on screen-but this is what happens here. Inexplicably The Gardener attempts to flee but is impaled on a shard of glass when he falls into the glass door which leads to the back of the house.
The event is not very believable either way (the Gardener panicking or being killed by falling through the glass door).
Windfall has nowhere to go by the climax which posits a complete metamorphosis of The Wife who ridiculously kills the fleeing robber and then shoots and kills her husband!
Her staging of the murder makes little sense since even the lowest grade of detectives would have figured out things didn't add up (especially deducting that the Gardner was killed because of an accident and not murder).
Why The Wife would suddenly turn against her husband so brutally makes little sense as his "crime" of being a little arrogant was no different than any of his fellow businessmen whom the wife would have been quite familiar with.
Windfall manages to hold your interest until it all falls apart in the end. Notably none of the characters seem realistic at all-especially the principals whose personalities appear to project a decidedly negative, unlikable demeanor throughout.