Inheritance (2025) Review – Phoebe Dynevor Further Etches A Reputable Filmography
While sometimes feeling like it lacks the expected payoff, “Inheritance” helps Phoebe Dynevor seem like a safe bet if she’s associated with a production.
Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Plot Summary
Maya’s mother just died, and the funeral happens to be the day her estranged father decides to re-enter her life. Now, Maya’s sister has moved on from him, started her own family, and advises Maya to pay this man no mind. However, Maya just spent nearly a year looking after her mother, she was a daddy’s girl growing up, so Sam popping up at that particular moment was good timing.
Add in that he was offering a job and a chance to travel, and Maya felt there was no reason to say no. However, as shown throughout “Inheritance,” Sam is a piece of work, and there is not only a reason he stayed away for a good number of years but also why Jess may have had the right idea in not missing him one bit.
Character Descriptions
Maya (Phoebe Dynevor)
For the past nine months, Maya has done nothing but take care of her mother, and now, she is at a point where she is trying to move on. To do so, she drinks, smokes, and hooks up with random guys, and she likes to steal a little bit. But thanks to her father, she has the ultimate way of setting aside the feelings related to her mom dying.
- The actor is also known for their role in “Fair Play.”
Sam (Rhys Ifans)
Sam was an attentive father when Maya and Jess were younger, but he went AWOL for several years. It was assumed it was because of his real estate career, working with dignitaries, and the various other cover stories he told his children and wife. However, the truth is he was a spy, and while trying to dial down the level of risk he takes on, with a job worth a lot of money, he can’t help himself.
- The actor is also known for their role in “House of the Dragon: Season 1.”
Jess (Kersti Bryan)
At this point in her life, Jess has a baby and a man, buried her mom, and worries about her sister not falling for their father’s charm as she has repeatedly done.
Review
Our Rating (81/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)
The is he or isn’t he a bastard role of Rhys Ifans in “Inheritance” is a driving force behind what interest you will have. Add Phoebe Dynevor into the formula, and you’ll find yourself, potentially, while watching, forgiving a lot of aspects of “Inheritance” that you may not have if it was any other actors.
Highlights
It’s Easy To Get Invested In Maya
I’m at the point of admitting I’m a fan of Phoebe Dynevor. From the first season of “Bridgerton,” to “Fair Play,” when something of hers comes on my radar, and I make an effort to watch, I don’t end up disappointed, and, for the most part, that can be said with “Inheritance.” The reason is that she has the presence and ability to make even the parts that may feel like a bit of a letdown, something you can grace over, at least while watching the film.
Case in point, we’re not told Maya has any training to be a spy. She does have sticky fingers and doesn’t get caught stealing no matter the country she is in, but evading government organizations and sending them on an international goose chase? That requires a level of suspension of disbelief that Dynevor somehow delivers in “Inheritance.”
For truly, seeing her fall back in love with her father, the setup of him needing her to do a job because he got kidnapped, it makes you want to see her succeed. Then add the question of who she can trust, whether she is being betrayed, and whether she can get out of potentially going to jail? All of it makes you want to lean forward to see and hope Maya ends this on the right side of the law or maybe follows in her father’s footsteps and outsmarts the law in such a way she can still live in some realm of a normal life.
The Games Sam Plays
While Dynevor deserves praise, the combination of Rhys Ifans as Sam and writers Neil Burger and Olen Steinhauer crafting his character and story also allows Dynevor to shine. For with Sam, Ifans knows how to walk that tightrope between being a father in need of his daughter, maybe also wanting to heal their bond, and potentially being a bastard.
It’s not knowing where he falls and you being so connected with Maya you hope that he isn’t all Jess thinks of him as that makes it so while you aren’t outright easy to manipulate by Sam, you do feel that child-like hope that he won’t backstab the child who is really trying to see the best in him.
On The Fence
At Times, It May Feel Maya Got Lucky One Too Many Times
Casting is important for any movie, and with “Inheritance,” Dynevor’s casting was necessary because the movie builds up to her maybe getting caught or something bad happening, and then she gets away. This happens to the point that the thriller element that the movie is supposed to have diminishes, and it can make Maya’s being placed in situations lose any sense of urgency or danger.
That is likely going to affect how you feel about the movie as it goes on, and if you aren’t easily charmed or enchanted by Dynevor, it could easily make “Inheritance” come off like a movie that doesn’t know how to manage risk, maintain a sense of danger, and create the kind of payoff that rewards you for sticking around to the end.
I’ll even admit, when it comes to the ending, “Inheritance” has the kind of ending that only actors like Dynevor get where they can have a moment of seemingly breaking the fourth wall without you rolling your eyes. But, again, if you aren’t a fan like me, rather than be happy for Maya, you may think this film really had her luck out to levels that couldn’t possibly happen and see this film in a negative.
Film Details
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
Release Date: January 25, 2025
Initially Available On/Via: Theatrically
Advisory Film Rating: Rated R
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Thriller, Young Adult
Distributor(s): IFC Films
Director(s): Neil Burger
Writer(s): Neil Burger, Olen Steinhauer
Content Information
- Dialog: Cursing
- Violence: Notable Fight/Chase Scenes, Family Violence
- Sexual Content: Nudity (Mild, Limited [Female – Side Of Chest]), Sexual Situations (Implied)
- Miscellaneous: Depiction of Corpses, Drinking, Smoking
External Links
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