Phoenix, Oregon is a vast improvement on the Grown Ups formula. Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2 were fuelled by seemingly harmless ideas of nostalgia and friendships, but the movies were made disingenuously by the egos of their cast. Phoenix, Oregon, on the other hand, isn’t wired to be smug. Instead of the story solely rooting itself in the past and being self-congratulatory, memories are used as reference points to fuel aspirations to make more memories.
By: Addison Wylie One half of Christian Petzold’s Phoenix is an arresting period drama about redefining oneself after a devastating tragedy. The other half is a mystery consisting of drawn-out contrivances. The viewer feels one heck of a tug-o-war as they vary between liking Phoenix and becoming fed up with it. Even when Phoenix derails itself with unconvincing misunderstandings, the film never loses the captivating performances. Petzold’s cast fits seamlessly within the post-WWII backdrop with…