This Will Never Work (2026) – Review and Summary

This Will Never Work is a top-tier family dramedy that knows how to keep the energy going without devolving into just being messy.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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“This Will Never Work” Film Details

  • Director(s): Marina Tempelsman, Niccolo Aeed
  • Writer(s): Marina Tempelsman, Niccolo Aeed
  • Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 30 Minutes
  • Public Release Date (Film Festival – New York Comedy Film Festival): February 19, 2026
  • Genre(s): Comedy, Drama
  • Content Rating: Not Rated
  • Primary Language: English
  • Images © of Marina Tempelsman, Niccolo Aeed

Movie Summary

Amanda is the black sheep of her family. Yes, she is very much like her mother, Linda, and at one time was close to her older sister Julia. But a recent series of decisions has left them both baffled to the point of crafting an intervention. They bring in Linda’s uncle/ brother Earl, the youngest son Bill, the adopted son Majd, Julia’s partner Rachel, and they even hire, for three hours, a professional interventionalist in Trevor.

But what is presented as an intervention regarding Amanda’s faux alcohol abuse becomes a complete dismantling of family dynamics, expectations, and miscommunication that would make Iyanla Vanzant’s brain tingle.

Cast and Characters

Amanda (Amandla Jahava)

  • Character Summary: Amanda is said to be the most like Linda and this makes her the favorite and most frustrating. She is the middle child and is perhaps the most rebellious. She is the one who makes Linda question herself the most and she loves how intelligent she is as much as it frustrates her that it means she can’t be easily influenced or manipulated.

Linda (Portia)

  • Character Summary: Linda is a professor at Columbia, comes from a highly educated family, especially the women, and she not only has high expectations but also low patience.

Julia (Marinda Anderson)

  • Character Summary: Julia is the eldest daughter, and while she doesn’t appear to have the burden of being the second parent to her younger siblings, she does seem to be lined up to keep the family together when Linda is eventually gone.

Earl (Ron Canada)

  • Character Summary: While technically Linda’s uncle, and her senior by 10 years, they see each other as siblings, and Earl is quite proud of being the consistent man in the life of Linda’s children. Especially since, at his karate school, he believes he not only taught the kids how to fight but also discipline.

Majd (Usama Siddiquee)

  • Character Summary: Majd is a family friend, via one of Linda’s co-workers, who was adopted into Linda’s family when his parents died.

Rachel (Sarah Stiles)

  • Character Summary: Rachel is Julia’s girlfriend, whom she has been with for years, is White, and is just now meeting Julia’s family.

Trevor (Peter Grosz)

  • Character Summary: Trevor works as a counselor for Moving Towards The Light Healing Center and is outright told from the beginning that he isn’t ready for what he is about to be thrown into.

Bill (Jerimiyah Dunbar)

  • Character Summary: Bill is Linda’s youngest and the only child she had whose father didn’t voluntarily leave her and the rest of the family. But, to show Linda doesn’t take out her feelings on her kids, based on their dads, she is perhaps the most critical of Bill and his life’s decisions. To the point, it almost seems like she is within a few years of giving up on him.

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

The Drama Feels Necessary, Not For The Sake Of Laughs Or Messiness [83/100]

In life, there is a need for a reconciliation of facts when it comes to your parents. How you felt, what happened as a kid and teenager, there should be a talk with your parents about all the things they protected you from as part of you coming of age. Otherwise, you get what happens in This Will Never Work.

But what is made clear is that Aeed and Tempelsman never wanted drama for the sake of drama. There had to be something underlying every interaction. Whether it is Linda’s pride getting in the way of her relationship with her children. Julia pinning some of her hopes on Amanda, and feeling rejected on multiple levels when reminded that Amanda is her own person.

Then there is Linda feeling conflicted about wanting the best education for her children. Yet having to reconcile that often means schools that are predominantly White. So alongside the academic education she wanted, there is a cultural absorption which, for someone who isn’t just ethnically Black but culturally, creates friction. Hence why Bill, who is bi-racial, struggling sometimes. In his family, because of how Whiteness is spoken about, we’re told he overcompensates. Mind you, his dad is the best of Linda’s exes, and Linda paid for her kids to attend a school with a White majority.

Everything is layered in ways that, as a Black family that values excellence and exceptionalism, makes sense. Especially in terms of building legacy across generations and the challenges it takes to not be the last one, or the reason the greatness stopped. It’s a weight you see them all struggle with and throw around like they are playing hot potato, for the accountability can be too much.

There Are No Simple Villains [84/100]

Doubling down, I want to make clear that it is easy to paint a lot of the family as being in the wrong, especially with the way they handle Amanda. Her desire to be her own person, operate as an individual rather than part of the collective, corners her into being the bad one. Yet, it becomes clear that, in order to survive and not disown her family, they need distance.

On top of that, as independent as Linda wanted them to be, you can tell she and her kids have some level of dependency on each other. If not, to maintain this ideal they want to exist, or be seen from the outside, they need to look and be a united front. The problem is, because each one is notably intelligent, their willpower doesn’t allow for conformity.

This is when the human side comes in, the messiness. For we’re reminded that, as much as Linda prides herself on continuing the family’s legacy, especially amongst the women, you’re reminded that all of them having pursued higher education doesn’t negate personality. Having a PhD doesn’t mean you solve or cure insecurity, worthiness, and other negative emotions. If anything, it just gives you a larger vocabulary.

Which may help you describe how others made you feel, but it doesn’t make for better relationships. If anything, you see this push that, because they are so smart, talented, and capable, the need to be willingly vulnerable isn’t there. The mere possibility of being wrong is treated as being adjacent to being stupid. So, any conversation about feelings has to evolve into a debate where there has to be a winner rather than a solution. This makes the person too tired to continue the fight, feel animosity, and paint someone as evil and manipulative. Meanwhile, without recognizing their own hurt, they unknowingly recreate it.

Knowing When To Show Vs. Tell [82/100]

Throughout This Will Never Work, there is a balance. We go from everyone airing out grievances within Julia’s living room to jumping back months, if not more than a decade. This is all done to get you to understand how we got here.

It’s a beautifully done balance for the far-reaching jumps are mostly in service of Linda, so when it comes to subjects she doesn’t like talking about, or tries to dodge, you get her side. By showing the pain she cannot verbalize, she is less the manipulating mom and more the woman who strove for better despite her circumstances.

As for the kids? We don’t get to experience them as teens or younger in a notable way. It’s mainly modern times, them trying to figure out their relationship, maybe what it looks like if their mother didn’t play a central role. For, again, Linda raised her children to be smart, proud, and vocal about their displeasure. The three of them follow this, and thus love fiercely. However, they do end up with emotional cuts and bruises because of how passionate things get, with invisible scars that sometimes don’t get talked about.

On The Fence

The Men Have Their Place, But Sometimes Feel Out Of Place [74/100]

I would submit that the women, especially because they have stronger personalities, often eclipse the men. But, in their defense, this movie doesn’t really feel about them. It’s clear that Julia and Amanda have the closest relationship, and Linda is most invested in those two. Bill, who lacks the advancements of his sisters, isn’t an afterthought. However, it can feel like Linda is giving up on him, and his place is being the little brother of Linda and Julia.

As for Majd? While he is a friend of the family turned adopted son, it doesn’t often feel like he has an emotional connection to anyone but Bill. With most of the family, Julia and Amanda especially, it feels like he was invited into their lives, and he has a standard place at the table. But he is more of a guest whom they are fond of than family.

Which leaves Earl. With Linda’s relationship history with the father of her children, he positions himself as the consistent male figure in their lives. He taught them to fight, and he is not only an uncle to them but also pushed to be like a brother to Linda, but his impact feels minimal. He might be loud, but his personality isn’t strong. Also, he isn’t given the same level of complexity as Linda or her kids. Which can make it so you forget he is there, or else he becomes the comic relief, since, rarely does he add depth to the conversation.

Overall

Our Rating (80/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)

This Will Never Work leans heavily on the relationship between Linda, Julia, and Amanda. This sometimes makes other characters feel secondary, despite their own grievances. But, it’s clear a lot of heart was put into each exchange between characters, almost like we’re watching things the writers have experienced or wish they could have said.

This is what ultimately makes This Will Never Work worth seeing. The love is strong between characters, and you can see that, while it often may seem fights are meant for superiority, ultimately they are meant for understanding. It’s just that while many have a verbose vocabulary, they don’t know how to express those feelings in a way that isn’t academic, but meant to heal.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.