Review: Chris Pine & Elizabeth Banks Make ‘People Like Us’ Engaging

Audiences usually turn their head at big budget, tentpole, sci-fi projects from writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci like Star Trek, Transformers and Cowboys & Aliens. But film buffs get a little more interested when a duo like this decides to tackle a character based family drama like People Like Us, the feature directorial debut from Kurtzman which he wrote with longtime writing partner Orci and first-time writer Jody Lambert. The grounded story is a welcome departure from robots, aliens and explosions and results in a tale that is melodramatic and a bit cheesy at times, but captivating and even a little touching. Chris Pine plays Sam, a somewhat shady businessman (or facilitator as he describes it), who, through the convincing of his concerned girlfriend (Olivia Wilde), gets caught up in the complications of his deceased father’s estate which has dictated that he hand over $150,000 to Frankie, a sister he …