Inheritance Review: Netflix’s Polish films and shows are nothing short of impressive. From the recently released Colors of Evil: Red, The Mire, Detective Frost, 1670 to No Pressure, Kill Me If You Dare and The Taming of the Shrewd, there’s something on the streaming platform for everyone.
- Inheritance is a comedy film with a runtime of 94 minutes.
- The movie is directed by Sylwester Jakimow and written by Łukasz Sychowicz.
- The film stars Maciej Stuhr, Gabriela Muskała, Franek Słomiński, Józefina Karnkowska, Joanna Trzepiecińska, Piotr Pacek, Jan Peszek and others.
- The Polish film is also known as Spadek.
– No Spoilers –
When an eccentric inventor and gameshow host suddenly dies amid a get-together with his oddball family, he leaves behind a huge inheritance that everyone wants a piece of. However, things get complicated when everyone realises that their dead uncle has left behind one final quest to determine who among them is worthy of the money.
The fact that Inheritance is a comedy movie will not be lost on anyone. With a room full of people who are constantly at odds with one another, the movie makes it apparent that the confusion, awkwardness and jealousy that these people feel for one another will be one of the driving forces for their actions throughout the runtime of the movie. A whodunit – the movie is a fun and light-hearted comedy that doesn’t try to be anything more than this, which works for itself for the most part.
Inheritance can remind anyone of Knives Out, wherein an odd bunch of people fight against each other for an inheritance and everyone’s dirty secrets slowly get revealed. Unfortunately, this 2024 Polish film lacks the nuance, wit and charm of its predecessor. Although there are moments that are entertaining and some witty quips here and there, it mostly follows a tried and tested route and doesn’t think of being anything more than that.
And, honestly, that’s fine. There are discussions surrounding the importance of family and we look at these people whose fragmented lives were all over the place previously, come together for a taste of the riches once their uncle suddenly dies. There’s some cheer and camaraderie between them that is not just fun but also somewhat warm and fuzzy.
In the end, however, it’s the lack of solid humour or wit that truly makes the movie bland. After the first 20-30 minutes, the movie gets sluggish because there are not many good twists or discoveries and the humour is quite basic. Thus, nothing really stands out for us in any way. The repetitive tasks and squabbles feel stale and unnecessary and you’d be waiting for the shoe to drop soon so that you get to hang on to something interesting or exciting in one way or another.
The ending is probably the most underwhelming thing of this entire ordeal the characters – they literally could have been replaced by anything or anyone else and it wouldn’t have made a difference. There’s hardly anything going for them and most of these people have no skin in the game. There’s not much animosity and it’s clear that apart from greed, there are not many reasons for any of them to harm their uncle. Additionally, none of them have any layers to them that we get to see and learn, making them dull and lifeless. In the end, we do see who the murderer is but the reasoning is extremely silly and doesn’t gel the story together at all.
Inheritance Review: Final Thoughts
Inheritance is… an okay watch. There are moments of excitement & intrigue but there are many questions that are left unanswered in the end. The reasonings that are given also feel lacklustre and the movie isn’t able to deliver wit or humour to the best of its abilities. Although there are better movies of the whodunit genre, Inheritance has its sweet moments of family and friendship. But that’s about it.
Also Read: Agents of Mystery Review: Korean Show Starring Karina, Kim Do-hoon is Simplistic Fun