Worth (2021)

 This film shows the unglamorous part of life, trying to figure out how much a person's life is worth, monetary speaking. It's cold, harsh and unfeeling. 

Ken Feinstein (the always great Michael Keaton) is an attorney, former chief of staff for Ted Kennedy and yet still finds time to teach at Georgetown. He opts to take undesired position of figuring out settlements for the families, and it is ugly from the very start. Emotions are high and no one is accepting the moneys thrown at them. Everyone wants more money, especially the upper level earners. 

Ken's biggest opposition comes in the form of fellow opera lover Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci) who lost his wife who strongly feels that the formula is broken, which it is. And given scope of 9/11, the issues are endless, same-sex partners who are unable to get married via civil unions and those who developed health issues long after the cut off period need to be recognized, and eventually Ken does come to terms with the traditional formula created by the insurance company is broken, and while some families want to sue, the lawsuits will take years and bankrupt everyone in the process, most, far more than needed to sign the paperwork do so. 

Now, there are plenty of twists, including some that you'd never expect. Take the deceased firefighter's Nick Donato's widow, Karen (Laura Benanti), who doesn't think that there enough money in the world to replace Nick. And she lavishes praise on him, not having one ill word to say about him, and despite the fact they had three little boys, he managed to have mistress and two even younger daughters on the side, yeah, I was shocked, and not in a good way. And the mistress (never shown on screen), wants money for her daughters.

The film isn't perfect, as the characters are rarely shown outside of the law firm and you don't know Charles Wolf's background and why he finds so many tempos in the settlement breakdown memo and you do need more background on him to fully understand his character. That being said, for the most part, the screenplay was tight even though the process probably did need more explanation for those not in the industry, and the acting was solid as the conflicted characters, trying both to have a heart and stay within the confines of the formula. And the opera music was a nice, added touch. Grade: B+

Side Notes: 

-Amy Ryan gives good support as Ken's law partner.

-Ken's young junior partner, Priya ( Shunori Ramanathan) was nearly killed, as she was due to start work at the World Trade Center just days after 9/11. She is grateful to still be alive.

-Why are married people worth more than single people? While I understand, it is just another way to bring us down.