Common Sense Media Review
By Tara McNamara
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fishing drama is all bait, no hook; drugs, guns, swearing.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Finestkind
What's the Story?
Recent college graduate Charlie (Toby Wallace) idolizes his older half-brother, Tom (Ben Foster), who's the captain of a fishing boat. Charlie convinces Tom to hire him as a crew mate for a summer job. But it's anything but smooth sailing, and when Tom gets deeper into debt, the brothers find themselves treading dangerous waters.
Is It Any Good?
This fishing-centric drama is all bait, and -- alas -- no hook. It took more than three decades for writer-director Brian Helgeland to get his first (and most personal) screenplay to the screen -- and while that's a great example of perseverance, the script for Finestkind shows its age. Today's audiences require more truth than most did in the 1980s, when lunkheaded heroes could make poor decisions, and we'd still cheer them on. Today, viewers are savvier and question everything. And here, the doubts start the moment after the brothers' first failed boating expedition and last through their final head-shaking choices.
What's even harder to believe is that this story came from the same writer of heralded crime dramas LA Confidential and Mystic River. When "wrong side of the tracks" Mabel (Jenna Ortega) has her first conversation with Charlie, she tells him how she's going to break the cycle of poverty and crime in her family. English major Charlie responds with the scene-stopping declaration, "You want to be the hero of your own story!" Yet she gets the men involved with a dangerous cartel and is never more than the girl in her boyfriend's story. Things like that may nag at viewers, but -- with its 1980s music from INXS and The Outfield, its Gen X-compatible idea that a hard day's work is its own reward, a lack of smartphones, and the "father knows best" messaging -- there's definitely an audience for this film, reinforcing for those who identify with the story that they are indeed, the finest kind.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what's meant by Finestkind's repeated message, "You live. You die. It's the in-between that counts." How do you interpret that?
What different decisions could Tom and Charlie have made to avoid the increasingly difficult situation they find themselves in?
What does "finest kind" mean?
Are drug use and drinking glamorized here? Why, or why not?
Brian Helgeland spent more than 30 years working to get Finestkind made. How is this an example of perseverance, and why is that an important character strength?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : December 15, 2023
- Cast : Ben Foster , Toby Wallace , Jenna Ortega , Tommy Lee Jones
- Director : Brian Helgeland
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Latino Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Paramount+
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Animals ( Ocean Creatures )
- Run time : 126 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : pervasive language, some violence, drug material and sexual content
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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