The Mitchells vs. The Machines, based on an original screenplay by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, gets off to an extremely rough start with a pointless en media res opening followed by a voice over-driven exposition dump explaining all of the characters and their relationships – but through all of that lazy writing audiences are introduced to the fractured Mitchell family. Katie (Abbi Jacobson) is an aspiring filmmaker brimming with imagination who is excited to head off to film school, but at the same time her disconnect with her parents and sibling is reaching a tipping point. Rick (Danny McBride), her father, has never demonstrated much interest in her movies – an extension of being an outdoors-loving Luddite; Aaron (Rianda), her younger brother with a dinosaur obsession, isn’t quite ready to say goodbye to his best friend; and Linda (Maya Rudolph), her mother, is concerned about the family coming apart at the seams.
