‘Anniversary’ Movie Review: Family Implodes In Riveting, Scarily Prescient Drama
Photo from Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
From Jeremy Kibler
Divisive political ideologies among family members can sour the holidays, but what if they ruined the entire foundation of family altogether? Jan Komasa’s English-language debut Anniversary isn’t exactly subtle, but a timely, politically charged family drama about the implosion of a family—and then the country—doesn’t need to be. Rather, it’s biting, razor-wired, gut-wrenching, scarily prescient, and potent, while being led by a spectacular ensemble where every member gets to shine.
The film does begin with the titular anniversary party. Celebrating 25 years of marriage, Georgetown University professor Ellen Taylor (an alternately commanding and brittle Diane Lane) and chef/restauranteur Paul (Kyle Chandler) get all of their kids back home for the weekend. Among the close-knit brood is successfully brazen stand-up comedian Anna (Madeline Brewer); Cynthia (Zoey Deutch), an environmental lawyer who’s married to a fellow attorney, Rob (Daryl McCormack), with differing opinions on wanting to have children; and the youngest daughter, high school-aged Birdie (Mckenna Grace), who still lives at home and has turned her bedroom desk into a science lab.
Last but not least, their prodigal son, writer Josh (Dylan O’Brien), has brought along his new girlfriend, Elizabeth (Phoebe Dynevor), who’s poised without so much as a blink. Ellen realizes she recognizes Elizabeth, a former student of hers who had turned her radical political ideas into a thesis about a hypothetical form of “anti-democratic” government. Once Josh and Elizabeth marry, the next family gatherings across five years (not just anniversaries) are about to become a little different — as is the country.
Anniversary chillingly imagines a “what-if” scenario and allows it to run its horrifically natural course. One big mistake the Taylor family makes is continuing to open the invitation to certain family members for gatherings, but that’s neither here nor there. If the Taylors weren’t torn apart because of an extremist single-party rule that becomes an entire movement, the world around them would still be in disarray. As the film’s reality becomes more dystopian and almost Purge-like, the film still remains as intimate and riveting as watching an apocalypse unfold in annual increments.
In the film critic world, subtlety usually reigns over a sledgehammer approach, however, not every story calls for being told with an inside voice. On the nose without being obnoxiously clunky, the screenplay by Lori Rosene-Gambino is further enhanced by the stellar cast that’s been assembled and each actor bringing so much nuance. The bad version of Anniversary could have judged and painted every character in broad-brush strokes without any other notes in between.
While a big ensemble playing a family can often feel like big stars thrown together without a chemistry read, the cast here does feel like a real family. The performances are also exceptionally strong across the board. Just coming off Twinless, Dylan O’Brien really impresses as Josh, making a convincingly startling transformation as a polished, privileged business man with a different mindset on everything in life. Eventually, some actors do have to go big, particularly Kyle Chandler and Zoey Deutch, but they’re all in tune with the escalation of this harrowing material.
Provocative and ultimately nihilistic, Anniversary has a point about the authoritarian world we live in and doesn’t sugarcoat anything with a false happy ending. This movie will make both parties angry, albeit for starkly different reasons, and that’s what makes it so damn effective.
Rating: 4/5
Anniversary hits theaters on October 29, 2025.
