The Family: The Burnhams

The Issues: Lester (Kevin Spacey) is the apparent cause of this family’s strife, gripped as clammily as he is by an all-too-apparent midlife crisis that involves lusting after teenage cheerleaders while smoking weed in his garage weights room.

However, so much resentment and dissatisfaction lurks beneath the surface in this mouldering vision of suburbia, it turns out that Lester is pretty much the only member of the household (also boasting a waspish cheating spouse and a sullen daughter riddled with self-esteem issues) being completely - if somewhat tragically - honest.

Would Therapy Help? Yes and no. On one level, this family’s predicament is merely an overblown caricature of a rather typical middle class household on the brink of collapse due to lack of communication. As such, many of the problems they’re each struggling through alone appear eminently fixable.

On the other hand, since none of the family actually like themselves or their situation enough to make a salvage operation worthwhile, there’s very limited point in trying; all they could hope to achieve was to delay Lester’s dramatic exit somewhat, but we sense little chance of a happier long-term outcome for this unit in its current incarnation.