This week for our Review Stew installment we are switching it up a little bit by looking at a newer release. Back in mid-March MAX dropped a horror comedy that was branded as a MAX Original. The cast seemed stacked from the trailer I saw. So I figured, why not? Let’s see what MAX has to offer with…The Parenting (2025).
Title: The Parenting
Director: Craig Johnson
Released: March 13, 2025 (Streaming on MAX)
Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
Available to stream: Exclusively on MAX
Josh (Brandon Flynn) and Rohan (Nik Dodani) have rented a house for vacation. However, this isn’t just any vacation. No, this will be the first time that their parents meet each other. While Josh’s parents, Liddy (Lisa Kudrow) and Cliff (Dean Norris), seem to be a more laidback couple, Rohan’s parents, Sharon (Edie Falco) and Frank (Brian Cox) are quite the opposite.
What none of them are aware of though is that the house they’re all staying in is haunted. This is a fun fact that the groundskeeper, Brenda (Parker Posey), fails to disclose when Josh and Rohan first arrived. In addition to the house being haunted, the families unknowingly summon a demon who then wreaks havoc on the entire weekend.
It is an absolute shame that The Parenting (2025) had a cast that talented and a script that did them all a disservice.
Usually with a horror-comedy you have a movie that leans-in one way or the other. Well, if you’re The Parenting, you prefer to skirt the edges of each genre without ever fully committing to one. It isn’t funny enough to be a comedy nor is it scary enough to be a horror. Unfortunately, the attempts at comedy wind up missing much more frequently than they land. I thought, after seeing the opening sequence that took place in 1983, that the horror side of it could be promising. I would soon find out that was not going to be the case.
Oddly enough, had they ditched the horror aspect altogether and fully committed to a 2025 take on Meet the Parents, it would have wound up being a much more enjoyable watch.
With so many different options as to what to stream, I can’t recommend that you spend 94-minutes of your day on this one.
So, have you seen The Parenting (2025)?
If so, what did you think of it?
Leave a comment below or reach out to me on Bluesky and let me hear your take!
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