ReelBob: ‘Human Capital’ ★½

By Bob Bloom

“Human Capital” is a rather dull movie about boring, insipid people whom you fail to connect with in any manner.

The movie, based on a book by Stephen Amidon, with a screenplay by Oren Moverman, is trying desperately to say something about people, their connections and loyalties, but the film is so lackadaisical that you miss the point.

The movie opens with a tragedy — a hit-and-run accident involving a bicyclist.

The film then flashes back introducing us to a motley group of individuals who may be connected to the incident.

These include Drew Hagel (Live Schreiber), a schlub and would-be wheeler-dealer with a failing real estate business; Quint Manning (Peter Sarsgaard), a fast-talking investment executive; his wife, Carrie (Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei); Hagel’s daughter, Shannon (Maya Hawke); and the Mannings’ son, Jamie (Fred Hechinger).

How all these people are linked to the accident and each other is slowly — and I mean very slowly — revealed as director Marc Meyers replays the same events but from the perspectives of the various characters.

All the while, we are trying to figure out who is the guilty driver.

But, because the movie gets into some many domestic tribulations concerning the Hagels and Mannings, you begin to zone out and don’t really care who hit the poor bicyclist.

For a movie that runs about 93 minutes, “Human Capital” feel interminable.

The fine cast, despite valiant efforts, fails to bring their characters to life; they are merely representations of greed, selfishness or desperation. They are thimbles, not fully fleshed-out people.

You cannot feel either sympathy or empathy for any of them. They are uninteresting, thus you have emotional involvement, nor are you really bothered about their fates.

Meyers and Moverman are striving to create a drama that conveys ideas, but whatever they are trying to say is garbled and unfocused.

There is an undertone of economic desperation to the movie that is rather ugly and basically used as disturbing blackmail.

Even a subplot involving Shannon and a new acquaintance, Ian (Alex Wolff), feels more like a lazy plot device than an actual romance.

Overall, “Human Capital” desperately wants to proclaim something important, but whatever that is, gets lost in the various cliched subplots that bog down the whole feature.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

HUMAN CAPITAL
1½ stars out of 4
Not rated, language, sexual situations, violence