Board Thread:Movie discussion/@comment-13359-20151024120151/@comment-13359-20151024145608

That makes it strange Karen never told her, then. It's clear from the beginning that both she and Scott know Claire is an inattentive and emotionally distant workaholic ("Did you call your sister?" "Straight to voice mail."), so you'd think someone as emotional as Karen, in an effort to impress upon her sister how important it is she spend time with the boys, would, y'know, explain why.

But she doesn't.

The end result is Claire assumes it's just another weekend getaway like any other, with no particular expectations from her, allowing her to push Zach and Gray off on someone else while she does her job. The script clearly wants us to dislike Claire for insisting on working instead of spending time with her soon-to-be divorcee sister's kids, but if she isn't aware of the divorce, she cannot be faulted for not understanding why this weekend is so important to Karen.

In fact, that entire conversation she has with Karen makes no sense. When Karen breaks down crying, and Claire changes her tune, showing genuine concern and compassion, every time I watch the movie, I keep expecting Karen to reveal the impending divorce, but she doesn't. It's the perfect scene, the only scene, really, where Claire can learn about it in a manner that seems normal and natural, an intimate moment between two siblings... and it never happens.