and Robin Wright headline the film, which was directed by Robert Zemeckis and features a screenplay by Eric Roth. Zemeckis is familiar with movie gimmickry, as his Who Framed Roger Rabbit? may be the concept’s most innovative and successful example. Zemeckis and the other principals of Here joined forces 30 years ago for the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump and try to recreate that magic. However, the result is a mediocre failure, just like Wicked, Wicked from a half-century earlier.

Here takes place in a single location with a camera that uses the same point of view for 104 minutes of real time and millions of years of reel time. The audience first sees a two-minute clip showing evolution from the dinosaurs through Native Americans who lived on the land to Ben Franklin’s son, who built a home across the street from the camera location. That location becomes the rear of the living room inside a house built during World War I. Most of the movie focuses on the various families living there.

After World War II, Al Young (Paul Bettany), a returning veteran, and his wife, Rose (Kelly Reilly), buy the house. Al has PTSD and soon becomes an alcoholic, but he still earns a living as a salesman. The couple have three children. The oldest, Richard (Hanks plays the character as a teenager and subsequently), remains in the house after his girlfriend, Margaret (Wright), becomes pregnant, and they soon marry. Over the years, Richard, who has talent as an artist, repeatedly talks about buying his own home, but he never does. Instead, he becomes a salesman like his father.

The Young family’s story would make a good limited series spread over six to eight hours. Instead, Here tries to shoehorn it into about one hour of screen time. The rest of the movie covers the various other families that live in the house (or nearby, in the case of Ben Franklin’s son). Further, the film doesn’t proceed in chronological order. Instead, scenes about prior residents are inserted, seemingly at random, into the Youngs’ storyline. The effect isn’t confusing because the time shifts are easy to follow. However, they prevent the audience from becoming more involved in the Youngs’ story.

When Here covers critical emotional events in the Young family’s lives, it does so in a superficial, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it manner. For example, Richard’s younger brother, Jimmy (Harry Marcus), enlists in the Navy during the Vietnam War. This decision causes considerable friction in the family, especially with Al, who has bitter memories of his own military service. However, the event passes in one brief scene, and the only further mention of Jimmy’s decision or career is an occasional shot of him in uniform later in the film. The movie’s ultimate emotional moment, Richard’s realization that he should have followed his heart instead of conventional responsibilities, is apparent to audiences long before Richard realizes it.

Although the Youngs have the most screen time, they aren’t the most interesting family in Here. That honor goes to Lee and Stella Beekman (David Fynn and Ophelia Lovibond), who own the house immediately prior to Al and Rose. Lee is a tinkerer who invents a reclining chair his investors rename the “La-Z-Boy.” Their ten minutes of screen time provide more humor and genuine emotion (the couple gets frisky on the La-Z-Boy often) than the rest of the movie combined.

When the Beekmans aren’t on-screen, Here spends more time depicting the passage of time through changes in clothing, furniture, and electronic accessories. And, since the house has a large picture window that is never covered by curtains or blinds, the audience can see their front lawn and the houses across the street over time. A few faddish styles are mildly interesting, but the constant change in décor becomes annoying.

The movie’s use of de-aging technology is even more annoying. Instead of casting younger actors as Richard and Margaret in their teens and 20s, the movie digitally de-ages Hanks and Wright. Tom Hanks thus looks like a wax statue of his character from the Bosom Buddies TV series. For the movie’s last scenes, the filmmakers employ a similar aging technology to make Hanks and Wright appear in their 80s.

Despite all the failed gimmickry, Here is occasionally effective. The lead actors take their roles seriously, and Paul Bettany is excellent as an embittered World War II veteran who stays embittered for the next half-century. As Al and the other main characters grow older, the physical and mental infirmities of old age get to them, and the subsequent scenes are sometimes quite touching. Unfortunately, whenever an emotional moment occurs, it’s often over before the audience has the proper opportunity to process it.

Take away the distractions of the other families, bizarre de-aging, and décor changes, and Here is a one-act play with an excellent cast covering one family’s lives over 70 years. The actors prevent Here from becoming a bad Saturday Night Live sketch but can’t save the film. What could have been a terrific limited series with a better script becomes an unsuccessful exercise in experimental filmmaking.