Too often, 'Labor Day' feels like a sternly resolved, self-consciously determined break from that tradition, a filmmaker deciding "I am making a Serious Drama" and steadfastly refusing to allow even a note of levity into the proceedings.

The initial Hitchcockian tension soon slackens into slop, with a dash of lukewarm eroticism.

Performances are strong, the chemistry is palpable and romantic sorts will get something from the Stockholm syndrome story.

A misfire in all senses of the word, let's just write 'Labor Day' off as the dud that it is and hope it's no more than a fluke in an otherwise commendable career.