The Parenting (2025): A Wasted Cast in a Toothless Horror-Comedy
The Parenting (2025): A Wasted Cast in a Toothless Horror-Comedy
"A stacked cast meets a script that’s neither scary nor funny enough to matter." — 2/5 Stars
The Parenting (2025) review: With a cast that reads like a who’s who of prestige television—Lisa Kudrow (Friends), Brian Cox (Succession), Edie Falco (The Sopranos), Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), Parker Posey (The White Lotus), plus rising stars Nik Dodani and Brandon Flynn—you’d expect something sharp, subversive, or at least entertaining. Instead, Craig Johnson’s horror-comedy delivers a toothless, predictable farce that fails to land as either comedy or horror.
The premise has potential: a young gay couple, Rohan (Dodani) and Josh (Flynn), invite their parents to a countryside house for a weekend meet-and-greet. But when a 400-year-old evil entity awakens, chaos ensues. In theory, this setup could yield sharp satire about family dynamics, generational trauma, or even queer identity—but the film settles for tired gags, lazy jump scares, and a script (co-written by SNL veteran Kent Sublette) that recycles every cliché without adding a single fresh twist.
All Star, No Spark
The actors do their best with thin material. Dodani and Flynn are charming and genuinely sweet as the central couple, and veterans like Kudrow, Cox, and Falco bring their signature charisma—even when delivering lines that feel like outtakes from a mid-2000s sitcom. But no amount of talent can salvage jokes that don’t land or horror beats that lack tension. The entity’s presence is more confusing than frightening, and its rules shift arbitrarily to serve the plot’s convenience.
This isn’t Scary Movie. It’s not edgy satire—it’s safe, studio-approved quirk. The humor relies on exaggerated parental awkwardness, miscommunication tropes, and “wacky elder” stereotypes that feel decades out of date. Meanwhile, the horror elements are worse—full of all the expected, oft-repeated trite gags done a million times before, always better.
“When your cast includes Lisa Kudrow, Brian Cox and Edie Falco, your script should rise to meet them—not drag them down.”
A Missed Halloween Opportunity
I went in hoping for a genre-reviving comedy—instead, The Parenting feels like a pilot episode, or reused SNL sketch lampooning the most recent horror release, stretched to 90 minutes, with all the edge sanded off for mass appeal. It’s not offensive; it’s just forgettable.
In a season full of inventive, daring horror, this film stands out only for its squandered potential. A stacked cast deserves better. Audiences deserve better. And Halloween deserves more than this.
The Parenting has the ingredients of a cult classic—but no recipe, no heat, and no flavor.
It’s not the worst film of the year, but it might be the most disappointing. When you assemble legends and give them nothing to do, the result isn’t just bad—it’s insulting.
Final Verdict: A wasted ensemble in a horror-comedy that’s neither scary nor funny. Just rewatch Scary Movie. 2/5 stars.
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