Inheritance

An initially promising premise devolves into a mediocre psychological thriller filled with plot holes and unbelievable storylines; audiences are better off skipping it. The very first thing viewers -- especially New Yorkers -- will scoff at is the ridiculous notion that a barely 30-year-old Lauren could be the elected district attorney of New York (where the real DAs have routinely been elected in their 50s and typically stay in office for decades) and that her younger brother is running for his second term as Congress at age 28 or so. It's extremely difficult to suspend disbelief, and much of Lauren's behavior also feels ludicrous. Collins tries her best, and she's a luminous actor, but she wasn't well cast, and the artificial-sounding dialogue doesn't do anyone any favors.

Pegg's role as the enigmatic Morgan and his interactions with Lauren are off-putting, as is his odd obsession with the key lime pie recipe that he's memorized and repeats like a mantra. No matter how much evidence Morgan presents to Lauren (as if his presence alone isn't evidence of her father's decades of cruelty), she waffles about what she should do, ignoring her important case, her family, and everything else in her life. This is director Vaughn Stein's second feature and screenwriter Matthew Kennedy's first, and their inexperience shows, despite the well-known cast and slick cinematography and editing. Ultimately, though, it's Inheritance's screenplay that's the biggest disappointment, because the story, even with its various twists, just doesn't live up to its potential.