Inheritance
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVaughn Stein
Written byMatthew Kennedy
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMichael Merriman
Edited byKristi Shimek
Music byMarlon Espino
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • May 22, 2020 (2020-05-22)
Running time
111 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$303,408

Inheritance is a 2020 American thriller film directed by Vaughn Stein from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. The film stars Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Connie Nielsen, Chace Crawford and Patrick Warburton. Inheritance was released on May 22, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment. It received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

In 2008, Archer Monroe, the patriarch of a wealthy and powerful political family in New York City, dies. His estate is divided among his family: Catherine, his wife; William, his younger son, a politician running for re-election; and Lauren, his elder daughter, the Manhattan district attorney. Family attorney Harold Thewlis privately shows Lauren her father's posthumous video message he left her. In the video, he says he has a secret to tell her that she must take to her grave. He directs her to a secret underground bunker on the family's property. There she finds a captive man who identifies himself as Morgan Warner, who says he has been held prisoner for 30 years.

Morgan claims he was Archer's friend and business partner until one night, while driving drunk, they killed a pedestrian. At Archer's insistence, they covered up the crime before Archer took Morgan prisoner to prevent his exposing the homicide. In the intervening years, Archer treated Morgan like a confessor and admitted many secrets. As proof, Morgan directs Lauren to where the pedestrian's body is buried. Lauren also follows Morgan's clues and finds Archer's longtime mistress, with whom he had a son, as well as evidence that Archer paid bribes to aid his children being elected to public office. Lauren is eventually convinced to free Morgan, and, believing he was wronged, directs Harold to set up an offshore bank account and charter a private jet so Morgan can disappear.

While Morgan was asleep, Lauren took a sample of his fingerprints and sent them for identification. The fingerprints are matched and the file sent to the Monroe house. Catherine sees the file and is terrified by photos of Morgan, whom she identifies as "Carson", claiming he is an "evil man". Lauren discovers Morgan's flight never left and Harold has been murdered. By the time Lauren returns to the Monroe house, Morgan has abducted Catherine and taken her to the bunker. Carson subdues Lauren and reveals that thirty years ago, he drugged and raped Catherine. Archer was taking Carson somewhere to kill him when they hit the pedestrian; furthermore, Carson was responsible for Archer's death, using the poison Archer had intended to use on him. Lauren fights back and, during their struggle, Carson claims he is Lauren's biological father before Catherine seizes his gun and shoots him dead. Together, Lauren and Catherine pour gasoline throughout the bunker and set it afire, destroying all evidence of Carson's captivity.

Cast

Production

In November 2018, it was announced Simon Pegg and Kate Mara had joined the cast of the film, with Vaughn Stein directing from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. Richard B. Lewis, David Wulf, Dan Reardon and Santosh Govindaraju will produce the film, under their Southpaw Entertainment, WulfPak Productions and Convergent Media banners, respectively.[2] From January to March 2019, Connie Nielsen, Chace Crawford and Patrick Warburton joined the cast of the film,[3][4] while Lily Collins joined to replace Mara.[5] In April 2019, Marque Richardson joined the cast of the film.[6]

Principal photography began in February 2019 in Birmingham, Alabama.[7]

Release

It was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2020.[8][9] However, the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] Vertical Entertainment and DirecTV Cinema acquired distribution rights to the film and set it for a May 22, 2020 release.[11]

Critical reception

Inheritance holds a 24% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 54 reviews, with an average of 4.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A would-be thriller that waits far too long to embrace the daffy potential of its bizarre premise, this Inheritance should be steadfastly refused."[12] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 31 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[13] The movie received two stars in a review at RogerEbert.com, where Nell Minnow wrote, "it just qualifies as watchable due to its nutty premise, sumptuous settings, and a couple of dynamic confrontations."

References

  1. ↑ "Inheritance (2020)". The Numbers. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  2. ↑ Ritman, Alex (November 1, 2018). "Kate Mara, Simon Pegg Tapped for Thriller 'Inheritance' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  3. ↑ van der Bijil, Hanno (January 22, 2019). "Thriller movie to be filmed in Birmingham". bizjournals.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  4. ↑ Kit, Borys (March 25, 2019). "Chace Crawford Joins Lily Collins in Thriller 'Inheritance'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  5. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (February 6, 2019). "Lily Collins Is Joining Simon Pegg In Thriller 'Inheritance' – EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  6. ↑ N'Duka, Amanda (April 17, 2019). "Marque Richardson Joins Simon Pegg & Lily Collins In 'Inheritance'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  7. ↑ "'Inheritance' filming in Birmingham this month with Kate Mara, Simon Pegg". Al.com. February 5, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  8. ↑ Goldsmith, Jill (March 3, 2020). "Tribeca Sets Feature Lineup Of Films For 2020 Fest". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Inheritance". Tribeca Film Festival. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  10. ↑ Beresford, Tribly; Lewis, Hilary (March 12, 2020). "Tribeca Film Festival Postponed Amid Coronavirus Fears". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  11. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (March 5, 2020). "Lily Collins-Simon Pegg Thriller 'Inheritance' Acquired By Vertical & DirecTV Ahead Of Tribeca Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Inheritance (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Inheritance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
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