Where do they get off calling it an “Apple Original” when part of CODA’s (as in: Children of Deaf Adults) premise (and a good handful of its scenes) are lifted from the French/Belgian film from 2014, The Bélier Family? Normally, I’d concede the rationale behind American-language remakes of foreign films based on a cultural prejudice against subtitles. But this is a film about deaf people; large passages of conversation are subtitled as it is. Nor is it a true story, which leads one to question why the casting is so xerographic in nature: bald and grizzly Troy Kotsur is a dead-ringer for Papa Bélier, while Marlee Matlin — America’s most acclaimed deaf actress — dyes her hair blonde to match the fictional Mama. Of the two main subplots put forth in the original, writer/director Sian Heder casts aside the one that concerns dad’s run for political office in favor of propping up a more familiar trope: daughter Ruby (Emilia Jones), the only one in the family of four who is not deaf, flaps the wings of her inner-songbird to participate in a competition. If only the plotting were as compelling as the ensemble performances. As much as I’d love to encourage a visit to your local cinema, you’d be better off staying home and downloading the original. (2021) — Scott Marks