People Like Us is about a man who's not doing so well with his job. He thinks he is doing well until he destroys his career with a technical error, shooting him into a pile of debt. Meanwhile, his father just died, though this gets an odd reaction from him since the main character (Sam, played by Chris Pine) hated his father as a kid. His father leaves behind a little bag full of $150,000 to give to a nephew he never knew he had, so Sam gets to know his nephew and half-sister without telling them who he really is. There are a ton of subplots too, but I've gotten my main point across.
The real problem with almost all of the characters in this movie is that they lie. I can see their lying faces, and they can see each other's lying faces, but other than getting angry about it, nothing is done to fix the constant lying. It's the whole reason there's a conflict of emotions for Sam and it's why he waited so long to tell his sister about the money. I realize if he had just been straight with her and told her everything, there wouldn't have been a story, but honestly, it's hard not to think about those kind of things.
Keeping secrets, telling lies, and avoiding people are some of my biggest pet peeves. Mostly, I'm a terrible liar so I avoid it when I can, but when I hear someone talking about waiting until the "right moment," I just want to go up to them and tell them to cut the crap, because there is no singular right moment. There are an infinite number of "right moments." Whether it's telling someone you're their brother and that you've got $150,000 sitting in the car or you're nervous about telling someone that you love or don't love them or anything else, there is no limit to the number of right moments that a person can say these things. I understand that in some cases it's a good thing to wait until there's more information available so you don't go making stupid mistakes caused by a lack of knowledge, but having a secret or keeping up a lie and just telling yourself that you'll come out with the truth later is complete bullshit.
Lies and secrets are ironically like money in the bank: the longer they're there, the bigger they get, and sooner or later it's going to get out. Only one of those scenarios is good, and we all know it. So what is it that makes us procrastinate when it comes to telling the truth? We know that the lie can only get worse, but we get stuck with it anyway. I guess lying could be compared to avoiding homework or taking out more and more loans from a bank, but unlike those things, you have complete control over the scenario. With homework, your dog could have actually eaten it, and with loans, maybe the bank decides your credit score is questionable, but with lies, it's much harder to lose sight of the truth that you're keeping to yourself. Fear's a big factor in all of this, but it'll be a bigger factor the longer you wait.
Oof... I tried avoiding using "you" to make this not look like it's a personal attack on you lovely readers. I assume nothing! Maybe you've never told a lie in you're life; how would I know? It was just easier for me to write in second person and I'm too lazy to change it. End of lecture. Time to go regain feeling in my legs... and brain.
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