The Estate

Macy, Toni Collette and Savannah, Anna Faris, are turned away when they apply for a bank loan, leaving them scrambling for a way to keep their lives on track. Their mother hints that their Aunt Hilda, Kathleen Turner, who sits on a sprawling $20 million estate, is battling cancer, and Savannah proposes a bold, risky plan: if they can access Aunt Hilda’s inheritance, they might secure their future. It’s a decision born from pressure and urgency, and the sisters look to their aunt as a last, desperate anchor.

When the two sisters arrive at the aunt’s grand mansion, they encounter their cousin Beatrice, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Beatrice’s husband James, Ron Livingston, who are already in the kitchen, quietly going about their lives and making soup. Tensions flare as the sisters are accused of scheming, and the family dynamics quickly reveal a web of envy, loyalty, and old rivalries. Richard, David Duchovny (known as Dick), soon arrives, joining the snide exchanges and shifting alliances that define this tense gathering. The house hums with whispered insults and sharp barbs as the cousins test one another’s boundaries, and a charged, uneasy carnival begins to unfold.

Seeking leverage, Macy and Savannah try to repair a fractured family relationship by taking Aunt Hilda to see her sister in an uneasy reconciliation. Yet even this fragile moment is undone when the two sisters stumble into a physical fight with one another, a sign of how far they’ve pushed themselves in their bid for money. Richard buys flowers and cake for Aunt Hilda, while James and Beatrice assemble a homemade photo album for her, a small, soulful attempt to win her affection. The cousins come to accept that they cannot outmatch each other with sentiment or charm, so they pivot to a plan that hinges on Aunt Hilda’s high school crush, Bill.

Bill, Danny Vinson, lives in a halfway house for sex offenders who are out of prison, and the cousins decide to lure him into a scheme that could swing the will in their favor. They bribe him with a modest sum and provide the aunt’s address, hoping a reunion with the old flame might ignite a favorable outcome. Bill arrives, and Dick recalls Bill’s infamous past and mentions it to Beatrice, who then informs Aunt Hilda. For a moment it seems the plan might work, but Aunt Hilda is not easily swayed and even contemplates a second chance with Bill, a move that would derail the cousins’ ambitions and force them to rethink their approach.

Rather than concede, the cousins band together to unmask Bill and claim the estate for themselves. They decide to stage Bill’s infamous behavior to prove he’s still a danger, and they recruit their younger sister, Ellen, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, as bait to reel him in. James steps away, torn between loyalty to his wife and the lure of wealth, while Beatrice champions the money as her primary prize. The plan escalates as Ellen is tasked with getting Bill drunk and coaxing a flash, a move that could seal the fate of the estate—if it goes according to plan.

The evening culminates in chaos. Bill is lured into the garden and seated with Ellen, but he soon passes out. Macy attempts to cover for him, while her boyfriend Geoff arrives, adding another layer of complication to the already unstable scheme. In a final, grim twist, Aunt Hilda foams at the mouth and a doctor is summoned to declare that it is time to say goodbye. The cousins force her to sign a will that purportedly assigns the estate to them, and Aunt Hilda, in her last moments, rebukes the scheme before she dies.

In the wake of the will’s execution, the family learns a shocking financial truth: the aunt’s estate is officially valued at 17 million dollars, but debts have whittled the cash down to a mere $38.17, and a painting of the aunt’s dog has been left to Macy. Back home, the sisters discover a separate document revealing the painting’s real value, assessed at a staggering $4.3 million, reshaping the sisters’ understanding of what they stood to gain and what they truly inherited from the saga.

Throughout the ordeal, the family dynamics ebb and flow—alliances shift, loyalties bend, and the ethical lines blur in pursuit of money and recognition. The film navigates themes of familial competition, the price of greed, and the ways people justify drastic actions when pressed by desperation, all while keeping the focus on the complicated relationships that tether Macy and Savannah to their relatives, and the unexpected, almost quiet moments that illuminate their humanity amid the chaos.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 01:16