"Labor Day" (2014)

In another case of “viewer remorse” this week, I was let down by one of my most anticipated films of the year. I had said “Labor Day” looked like a melodramatic soap opera of a movie, but I was sure the filmmaker, known for good work in the past, would rise to the occasion and break the mold.

He didn’t.

Not only is this an example of the most typical, and unbelievable, love stories; it claims to be a “coming of age” tale as well. The end product is so amorphous, so unfocused, it fails to really deliver any poignant teen development, we don’t ever see anyone fall in love either. Not in any convincing, absorbing way.

The trailer suffices for anyone who has any interest in this story. The other 109 minutes do nothing to expand on the romance or the teen awakening. Everything you assume will happen does, and to be honest the trailer with its soundtrack elicits more emotion.