Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Jodie Foster
Writer: Rosie JoLove
Based on the novel by Emma Straub
Cast: Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Connelly, Haley Lu Richardson, Scott Eastwood, Olivia Munn, Michael Stuhlbarg, Lee Pace, Mario Casas, Daniella Pineda, Patricia Clarkson
Plot: Preparing to leave for their vacation, the Post family is panicking in traditional, last-minute throes. Franny (Jennifer Connelly) and Jim (Kyle Chandler) packs their bags while Sylvia (Haley Lu Richardson) waits for a Lyft. She's staying through the last few weeks before she leaves for college at Brown University.
They're spending two weeks on the Mallorca island, along with Franny’s best friend Charles (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his husband Lawrence (Lee Pace). The house belonged to Gemma (Patricia Clarkson), who's friends with Charles. Jim's one month out of a forced exit from his thirty years at a local magazine. The two-week vacation will do him good.
The plane takes off, Jim and Franny in first-class and Sylvia in coach; Franny quickly goes to sleep, but Jim stays awake for a while. As he walks back to his seat, Sylvia texts a friend on her goals to accomplish before college; among them's “lose my virginity.”
The Posts use a smaller plane from Madrid to Mallorca. Their flight is stuffed with colorful characters. The house they’re renting is just outside Palma.
After a stint at the rental car agency, Jim drives Franny and Sylvia from Palma through the village. Reaching the home, Franny finds the place undersold. Sylvia's so taken with the view she feels she may stay, so she can avoid going home. While moving the bags into bedrooms, he’s happy to see his wife is by the pool, already enjoying herself.
Once settled, Sylvia and Jim quickly fall asleep, but Franny takes the car keys and drives to the village to buy food for dinner. While she’s gone, Sylvia wakes up and takes a shower. She leaves the bathroom, holding an assortment of towels over herself, and runs into a young man in the hallway. He’s Juan (Mario Casas), her Spanish tutor. Franny's delighted with the attractive Juan, while Sylvia's mortified when she's forced to appear in her lesson’s living room.
Sylvia and Jim swim before dinner. They discuss potential plans for the next day: Bobby (Scott Eastwood) and his girlfriend and Charles and Lawrence will arrive on the morning flight. Sylvia mentions she wishes her brother and Charles was coming without their significant others. Jim wants Sylvia to enjoy seeing them; he hints at the looming “implosion” of his nuclear family, something Sylvia knows, but Bobby doesn’t.
As they prepare for bed, Franny plans on driving to Palma to meet the arriving party, afterward sending Bobby, Carmen (Olivia Munn), and Lawrence home in one car so she and Charles could go alone and stop at the store. Jim dreads the next two weeks of Franny, rearranging everything so she could get around Charles. Jim has no room to complain about Franny’s habits. Before climbing into bed, she tells him to sleep in another room.
At Palma’s airport, Charles's reviewing Lawrence’s and his interest in adopting a baby. They've come close before and are in the running with several pregnant mothers. Bobby and Carmen appear. They've been together on and off for several years, and Carmen is a dozen years older than Bobby.
They meet with Fanny in the lobby. She's pleased to see Bobby, is pleasant to Carmen, and nearly bursts into tears when she sees Charles. The group splits up: Carmen, Bobby, and Lawrence drive back to the house while Franny and Charles buy groceries. They discuss Jim and the kids, Franny's furious at Jim. Sylvia has her Spanish lesson with Juan and is very attracted to him. Jim ventures out in the streets around the house.
Although the newcomers are tired from their flight, Franny insists on dinner. As she gets the last few details finished, she looks at her family with concern. Carmen interrupts her thoughts, and together they tote the dishes of food.
Bobby and Carmen wake up the next morning. Bobby admires Carmen’s wild, robust nature. Carmen asks Bobby when he'll “talk to his parents about the money.” Bobby's in some amount of serious debt from a risky side venture.
Lawrence's trying to send a few work emails with his spotty Wi-Fi while Sylvia prepares breakfast. Jim's swimming and Charles sit nearby, chatting with Franny. Lawrence feels a regular stab of envy at Charles’s and Franny’s relationship, which Sylvia notes. When his email finally downloads, he finds one from the adoption worker, saying there's a baby boy as the mother's narrowed her choice down. As Jim comes in from the pool, Lawrence asks him about his job to divert Charles’s attention. This causes Franny to burst into tears and Jim to leave the room in awkwardness.
Sylvia wakes up, groggy from wine and jet lag. Although there's no Wi-Fi, she opens her phone and reviews the many pictures she's tagged in from a new party, which she drank too much and kissed several boys. She experiences several minutes of self-pity before realizing she's to get downstairs for Juan.
Lawrence gets Charles’s attention by showing the email from the adoption agency. They call New York and learn that the birth mother will be choosing in a few weeks. She suggests they stay, enjoy Spain, and be ready. Sylvia and Juan have their lesson while she wistfully watches Lawrence and Charles sit by the pool, looking like real love.
For dinner, Jim and Bobby grill steaks on the patio. Father and son stand over the grill and chat blithely about the meat; both men have more that they would like to discuss but cannot. After dinner, Sylvia watches a movie with Jim and Charles; she cuddles with Charles avoiding her father. Meanwhile, Lawrence helps Franny clean the kitchen. He apologizes for mentioning Jim’s work at the magazine; he doesn't know why Jim's fired and feels terrible. Franny confesses that Jim had an affair. He apologizes, and she goes back inside. Carmen overhears the conversation.
The party decides to drive to a small museum. Sylvia and Franny ride with Juan with Jim, Charles, and Lawrence following in the second car. At the museum, the party putters around, marginally interested in what's on offer. Juan and Sylvia stay behind while the others wander around.
Jim has flashes of Madison Vance (Daniella Pineda), the editorial assistant, how she'd instigated the affair, and how easily he'd asserted. He regrets it.
Back at the house, Carmen and Bobby have stayed behind, and Carmen's exercising. She and Bobby met six years before at the gym when he had signed up for a six-week session. She had whipped him into shape, and they had started sleeping together at the end of the course. At the house, Carmen goes through her workout, proud of her firm, muscular body. Bobby watches her from the pool. She asks Bobby if he has noticed the tension between his parents; he hasn't.
After the museum trip, the group decides to drive into Palma for dinner. They stroll through town before dinner, with Carmen and Franny popping into shops now and then. Franny attempts meaningful conversation with Carmen, but they have nothing in common. At the dinner table, everyone enjoys tapas while Jim tries to interview Franny. They share a few laughs before she remembers that she is supposed to be angry at him.
Sitting by the pool, Jim ponders as Carmen emerges from the house to join him. After a moment of silence, Carmen shares sympathy for whatever's happening with Franny.
Franny and Sylvia drive for lunch and some shopping. They pass the tennis center, run by a famous Spanish tennis player. Franny's trying to get Sylvia to have a lesson with the player, but her attention's waylaid by the sight of an older, Mallorcan player.
Later, Sylvia sits with Juan, who tells her all about the older player, Antoni Vert. The past three months in her house, tension grows between her parents and Franny had finally told her what Jim had done.
During the afternoon, everyone in the house naps except for Franny and Charles. Franny's in the bath while Charles sits nearby. He asks about Jim, and Franny cannot decide if she wants him to apologize or die. Franny asks what Charles would do in her place. Charles confesses that he cheated on Lawrence long ago. Franny's shocked that Charles hasn't conceded this; Charles tells her Lawrence wouldn't want to know if Charles's on the receiving end. And if Lawrence had cheated on him, he'd probably forgive him.
Weary of lying around, Charles & Lawrence take Sylvia to visit another museum. They talk lightly and briefly about how Charles's focused on Franny when they're together. Charles apologizes, and Lawrence's mollified.
Franny arranges for her tennis lesson with Vert. She's late and slightly unprepared but isn't fussed by his impatience. He asks how well Franny knows tennis, which she exaggerates. They begin to play, and Franny looks horrible, giggling and flubbing her way through several plays. Finally, she notices his seriousness and connects a few of his serves. He asks her to serve, but she accidentally smacks herself on the head, passing out.
At the house, Bobby and Carmen exercise by the pool while Lawrence reads nearby. When Bobby goes inside, Lawrence finds himself asking Carmen about their relationship. Like Carmen and Bobby, Lawrence and Charles’s marriage has a ten-plus year age gap. They talk of marriage and commitment, and then each of them fades into their own fantasy.
Afterward, Jim and Charles do the dishes. After a few pleasantries, Charles asks how Bobby is, but he has no idea. Charles doesn't know what to say.
As the day opens with rain, Sylvia's annoyed at the forced rest. On her way downstairs to protest, she glances at herself in the mirror and is shocked to find the large bump on her scalp. The group takes to playing Scrabble. Carmen isn't having a great time since the vacation's nothing like the last she and Bobby took, filled with drinking and sex. Carmen summons Bobby to the kitchen, asking if he's talked to his parents about the money. He reiterates the necessity, adding he had no idea Jim had lost his job. Bobby seems unclear on what's going on with his parents. He leaves the conversation and Carmen's dissatisfaction.
After dinner, Bobby's stir crazy and irritated with Carmen, so he decides to go out to hit the bars. At the last minute, he asks Sylvia to come along. Bobby mentions that he had to get away from Carmen, and Sylvia counters that their parents aren't doing very well. Bobby starts drinking too much, and Sylvia watches him dance his way into a group of young women. An hour later, the club is full, and Sylvia hasn't seen Bobby for a while. She goes to the bathroom to look for him there. He tumbles out of the locked bathroom door with a girl clinging to him. Sylvia berates him about Carmen in front of the girl, which Bobby shoos the girl away. Sylvia is disgusted with him. He's so casual that she begins punching him in the stomach. On their way out, they pass Juan, and Sylvia longs to stay with him but cannot find a way to say so.
When they arrive home, Bobby apologizes that Sylvia saw his behavior and begs her not to tell Carmen. Sylvia says she doesn't like him at the moment.
Bobby wakes up to Carmen being over him. She scolds him for his behavior: how he smells, how he unmistakably behaved at the club, and for not having the capability to deal with his problems. She goes for a run, Bobby feels sick again.
Sylvia wakes, happy that it's Sunday, and Juan won't see her while hungover. While venturing for some aspirin, she wonders if Jim's been in the room with Franny, making Sylvia sad.
In the kitchen, Lawrence tries to get some work done with the terrible internet. Charles won't talk about the adoption, and Lawrence worries that Charles's changing his mind. Franny and Charles are nearby, reading. Bobby shows up, grumpy and surly, and, given Carmen’s cold manner that morning, the room falls silent and awkward.
Carmen exercises by the pool. If Bobby tried to apologize and fix things, she'd let him. She recalls how immature he was when they met, how she had to teach him everything about being an adult. His parents never made him do anything, so Carmen had to teach him.
Jim decides to spend the day alone, so he takes one of the cars into Palma and tours the town. Over coffee, he worries about where he will move if she kicks him out. A flashback presented itself when he told Franny about what he had done.
That evening, Carmen helps Franny in the kitchen. With her own children seldom making an effort, Franny is uncharacteristically moved by Carmen’s offer. The family sits down to dinner. “People were all creatures of habit, the Posts no exception.” Bobby and Carmen still aren't talking, and Carmen is annoyed at this. When Franny digs at her a bit for her eating habits, and Bobby fails to defend her, Carmen announces that Bobby is in debt. She reports that Bobby paid to sell protein powders at the gym but has been unable to unload the product and is in debt for over $150,000.
Bobby tells his family the whole story, and Jim tells him it'll be okay. That evening, Jim and Franny lie in bed, wondering how to help Bobby, and even if they should. Sylvia gets out of her bed and walks through the dark house, checking to see if Jim's asleep on the living room couch. He isn't, which she's relieved.
Franny prepares the family for a trip to the beach. They all choose a beach that shouldn't be too crowded, and everyone leaves together in the two cars. Bobby decides to ride with Sylvia instead of Carmen. Sylvia asks why she would've exposed him to dinner if he hadn't told her about the other girl.
The beach is beautiful. Franny and Carmen immediately dive in. Charles and Lawrence set up umbrellas, and Sylvia lies down with them. Franny and Jim talk about what Bobby may have done at the club the other night. Bobby wanders into the water, immediately stung by a jellyfish. While away from the crowd, Jim asks Bobby what is the problem with Carmen. Bobby, exasperated, says the girl at the club was nothing. Jim confesses to his son that he cheated on Franny, and that it's awful, and that even in his guilt, he admitted the truth to Franny. Bobby's shocked.
Meanwhile, Franny asks Sylvia what Bobby did at the club. The debt is bad enough, and Franny wants more for Bobby. Sylvia confesses that she watched him cheat on Carmen. Franny is overwhelmed with surprise and worry that she had raised her children wrong. When Jim and Bobby return from the bathroom, Franny explodes. She announces to everyone within earshot how horribly things have gone that Jim slept with an intern and Bobby with a stranger. She rounds on her son, telling him he should've known better and taught him better. She begins to cry. When Jim says everyone should calm down, Charles punches him. He and Lawrence take Franny to the car, and Sylvia follows. On the drive home, Sylvia asks her mother if they're getting a divorce. Sylvia says she doesn't know.
Jim and Bobby remain on the beach. Ironically, two burly men in leather jackets approach the biker gang on their flight from Madrid to Palma. One of them is a pediatrician; he looks at Jim’s eye. He proclaims it okay, advising Jim to keep it cold. Bobby, Jim, and Carmen take the umbrellas and bags to the car and drive home in silence.
In Gemma’s office, Jim spends the morning away from everyone. Through the window, He watches Franny feeling a renewed sense of guilt because he loves his wife.
As Bobby appears in the kitchen, Carmen asks him to take a walk with her. They roam in muteness into the village, passing a wedding on the way. Carmen's captivated by the two lovers’ sight, but all Bobby can say is that the bride had fat arms. She tells him she's tired of waiting for him to grow up and that she's going home without him.
The house is in a flutter with Carmen’s departure. Juan comes, and Sylvia tells him all about it. She feels like she'll never get him to have sex with her, and she should have paid more attention to her Spanish lessons. At the last minute, Juan asks to take her “out” for their lesson the next day.
Charles finds Lawrence alone in their bedroom. He awkwardly confesses his affair of long ago, but Lawrence had known about it all along. He knew that it was just a random, midlife fling. Charles wanted to tell the truth before they start their family together.
At dinner, Bobby is acting pathetic, and the family musters up some sympathy for him. Despite the events of the day before, dinner feels peaceful, like the tension was broken. Sylvia tells her family with some petulance that her friends had cheated on her, and Bobby encourages her that she gets to start a new life soon. The peace had extended to Bobby and Sylvia.
After dinner, Jim retreats to the study, Bobby goes to bed, Lawrence and Sylvia watch a movie, and Charles and Franny go swimming. He tells her about Baby Alphonse, and they both tear up in anticipation and joy.
Juan arrives early to meet Sylvia. Franny calls Antoni Vert to ask if she can see him because she could write it up as an interview later. She leaves the men, making sure that Bobby's miserable enough to change, but not enough to do something stupid. With Antoni, Franny recommends an early lunch. Franny has writings back home, rants about Jim, ways to heal, but she doubts it'll see the light.
Meanwhile, Jim has called Terry, the pediatrician, asking him to help following Franny. They drive to the tennis center. When she leaves with Antoni, they follow her.
Juan and Sylvia drive for a while. She makes an insensitive comment about his music, and he yells at her, calls her a typical American. She apologizes but is hurt.
Franny and Antoni have lunch on a local pier. Franny talks a lot and asks him a lot of questions. Juan takes Sylvia to a monastery for a tour. Antoni is distracted by how handsome he is. After the monastery, he takes a backpack and cooler from his car to walk down to the beach.
Franny and Antoni finish their lunch while Jim and Terry watch. They follow them back to the tennis center, and Jim watches nervously as Antoni embraces his wife. He feels exposed, out of his element, and remembers all the times Franny has told him he'd get out of his comfort zone. Franny pulls back into traffic in the rental car, but she sees Jim and Terry and stops. When he reaches her, she asks with amusement if Jim's been following her. Jim says, yes. He's sorry for his mistake and cannot be without her. She allows him to kiss her.
Juan and Sylvia find the beach and run into the water. They tread water in the ocean, Sylvia babbling nervously when Juan casually says he'd kiss her if she liked. They kiss, and Sylvia suggests they have sex.
Charles, Lawrence, and Bobby are playing Scrabble at the house. Jim and Franny appear and disappear to their bedroom. Sylvia quickly follows, wet and hurried. Charles asks if she'd been with Juan the whole time, and she says yes.
Lawrence wakes early to review his emails, and there's one from the birth mother. He screams, waking Charles. They get ready to leave immediately. Bobby has settled into the thought of starting over without Carmen.
Sylvia wishes she'd have sex with Juan again without her parents noticing. He's supposed to come that day but cancels at the last minute, emailing that he'll come by to say good-bye before leaving for home. The doorbell rings, and Sylvia answers; Gemma, the homeowner, has apparently mixed up her dates. Gemma's slightly obnoxious. She says things like, “Oh, I never eat anything, just the ice cream. I come for a week, eat only ice cream, then go home feeling like I’ve been on a cleanse”. When she learns that Charles and Lawrence have gone, she asks Franny if she and Jim would move into their room to have her own bed.
Franny is irritated at Gemma’s rudeness. They go to the empty bedroom with their things and discuss how to deal with Bobby; afterward, they have sex, proving they have truly made up.
The Posts are ready to leave for the airport. Sylvia paces, waiting for Juan's promised good-bye visit, but he's late. He arrives, treating Sylvia with relaxed casualness. Sylvia's shocked that Juan actually takes her mother’s check, suddenly seeing their time on the beach as meaningless. She asks Franny to take their photo because obviously, she'd need to prove her gorgeousness to her friends. Bobby takes the phone, but Sylvia kisses Juan on the lips for a split second. Everyone's shocked. He offers to hug her, but she turns her back on him. It wasn't loved, she muses. It was a moment on a beach.
Bobby has a last-second at the airport to decide if he's flying to Miami or New York. Carmen hasn't contacted him; she made it easier for them to start over. He cannot imagine why he'd return to Miami instead of turning his mind towards what may await him in New York.
In the tentative haze of happiness surrounding his reconciliation with Franny, Jim walked too long as the plane is boarding; hurrying back, Jim fears Franny will be worried. However, when he gets to the gate, he sees his wife, standing and waiting patiently.
She is excited that Bobby is coming home with them and the family together for a while. She reminds herself not to baby her son but to treat him like an adult. All of them would need to learn to fend more for themselves. As the plane lifts off, she likens it to their marriage, which can fly steady and dependable but needs some firm steering. She's ready to stay committed to it.
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