REVIEW: Lisa Kudrow, Brian Cox and Family Battle with Demons in Max's ‘The Parenting’, a Fun Horror-Comedy that Tickles More Than Terrifies
- John C.
- Mar 13
- 4 min read
You can also read our recent interviews with the cast and crew of The Parenting here.
A young couple’s weekend retreat with their parents in a holiday home takes a turn for the spookier in The Parenting, a slight but entertaining flick that is considerably more comedy than horror. The film might not deliver on anywhere near the level of scares of its obvious horror influences, but gets by on its impressive ensemble cast and a kooky script that matches their infectious energy. Its tendency to infantilise its characters, and by extension, the audience, grates at times, and even at 100 minutes, the film could have been higher. Nonetheless, and in spite being consigned to the ignominious slot of a March streaming-only release, the film has more than enough entertaining set pieces, sparring and provocative moments to keep you engaged throughout. Kudos also to stars Nik Dodani (Atypical) and Brandon Flynn (13 Reasons Why) - here, making their debuts starring in a film release, they admirably stand their own against heavyweights like Brian Cox and Lisa Kudrow.
We meet couple Rohan (Dodani) and Josh (Flynn), as they drive to a charming house in the countryside to stay with their respective parents for a long weekend. Both are keen on making the best possible impressive, being the first time they are going to meet each others’ families - although the somewhat prim Rohan is privately planning to propose to his more freewheeling boyfriend, which sets him even more on edge than usual. Despite his proclamations that as “the chill one”, everyone he meets adores him, Josh (a budding musician but in between jobs) finds himself fazed by Frank (Brian Cox, Succession) and Sharon (Edie Falco, The Sopranos), Rohan’s adoptive parents. The pair, you see, are not amused in the slightest by Josh’s jokes or faux pas - an awkwardness further compounded when Josh’s comparatively nonchalant parents, Liddy (Lisa Kudrow - played as equally as kookily as her name) and Cliff (Dean Norris, Breaking Bad) enter the scene. This mixing pot of personalities does not bode well for the idyllic weekend Rohan had envisaged for his fiancé-to-be - and that is before a demon enters the scene to truly turn the whole house upside-down.
Rather than flinging us into occult territory from the get-go, director Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins, Alex Strangelove) and screenwriter Kent Sublette (SNL) choose to make us feel at home amongst the discomfort of the two families. The earliest scenes in the film are some of its best - whilst not laugh-a-minute funny, they resoundingly succeed in endearing us to the motley bunch. This is arguably more of a credit to the calibre of the actors involved than the script itself, which is not especially nuanced and lacking in a certain degree of tact (this is not the kind of narrative than holds up to too much analytical scrutiny. No prizes for originality here - but the scenarios which Sublette places his subjects in often play to his broad strengths honed on SNL - raucous, accessible and about as subtle as a brick. Credit to Parker Posey and Vivian Bang, who deliver some of The Parenting’s most uproarious lines in spite of limited screen time.
When the horror does come in though, it is somewhat disappointingly tame. Johnson and Sublette do a fine job calling back to films such as The Exorcist, Poltergeist and The Shining - but being that this is foremost a comedy those moments ring more like a diet version of Beetlejuice (however, there a few moments which for this critic trumped some of those in Tim Burton’s 2024 sequel to that film). Despite a hefty helping of sex jokes, gross-out humour and F-bombs (some funny, others far less so), the film’s R-rating seems like more arbitrary than intentional. Budgetary constraints may be a contributing factor to this - but it could have done with a few litres of fake blood to supplement the fountains of fake vomit. If anything, the most unsettling aspects of the film come from Cox as Frank - who, whilst wrangling with the hold of the demon over him, finds himself contending with his mortality. Irrespective of the comedy moments sandwiching it, Cox performance against the rest of the cast (and himself, as his demonic half) has a tragic dimension which is almost jarring in its relative poignancy when set against the antics around him. Frank’s subsequent unconscious outbursts against his family (including the surprising repeated gag of homophobic slurs, overkill which struck me as in somewhat poor taste) imply an inner turmoil that might have formed the bones of a more probing film akin to Johnson’s earlier Skeleton Twins.
Whilst it is never destined to become a classic of the horror, comedy or horror-comedy genres, The Parenting harkens back to something of a bygone era of movies which could be fuelled simply by putting a bunch of a great actors in a space together for a prolonged period of time, giving them a moderately funny script, competent direction and letting them riff off each other. There are certainly far worse ways to spend 100 minutes of your time than this.
The Parenting releases March 13 on Max.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
About The Parenting
Release Date: 13 March 2025
Director: Kent Johnson
Writer: Craig Sublette
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Good Fear Content, Mighty Engine
Distribution: Max
Cast: Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn, Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, Parker Posey, and Vivian Bang
Synopsis: The Parenting follows young couple Rohan and Josh as they plan a perfect weekend getaway in the country to introduce their parents. As tensions begin to flare between the more traditional Sharon and Frank and the laid-back Liddy and Cliff, the families soon realize that their rental – managed by eccentric local Brenda – is haunted by the presence of a 400-year-old poltergeist. When one parent becomes thoroughly possessed, it’s up to the young couple and their meddlesome BFF Sara to unite the families and stop the evil entity once and for all.
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