Among the worst non-life threatening situations I've seen in any movie, it had to happen to Will Ferrell. How could such a funny guy go through all this drama by losing his job; having the locks changed on his house; all his possessions laying out on his front lawn and etc.? How does he handle it all? Finally, what do I think of this movie? Here's my review:
Well I can start this off by saying this is one of Will Ferrell's best roles he's played in awhile. Arguably better than his role of Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction. In this movie he plays Nick Halsey, an alcoholic who according to his wife, co-workers and a few next door neighbors doesn't deserve much in life because of his instability. His wife (who we never see in the movie) takes out her anger by leaving him, changing the locks and throwing all of Halsey's furniture and personal belongings out on his lawn. His boss at work fires him for not recovering from his alcohol problems. Luckily not everyone hates Halsey, knowing he befriends a woman named Samantha (Rebecca Hall) who just moved in from across the street; and Kenny: a maid's son from down the street who does nothing but rides his bike up and down the neighborhood streets.
As he makes acquaintances, he also has business to do as well. He is approached by his detective "friend", Frank Garcia (Michael Penã) who says that he can't get a key made for his new locks yet and must sell all the stuff on his lawn within five days. Why? I really have no clue, apparently that's the new law, or at least in this movie. Nick decides to have Kenny participate in helping him sell his stuff by paying him minimum wage and teaching him business tips on how to become a salesman. Samantha mostly just talks to Nick surprisingly wanting to know him more than finding out why all his belongings are out on his lawn. in my opinion great character development.
That's really how it begins, but I'll leave the middle and end up for you to watch. Still, what do I think of all three acts of the movie? Well I could see what writer/director Dan Rush was trying to do, and thankfully he pulled at least more than half of it off. From what I saw was that he was trying to make a film about events that can relate to real life more than what you would just see in a movie; which is good except I think he shoves it in your face a little too much. The movie is overall more depressing than it could've been. That doesn't mean I don't like the movie though. I'm just saying that too much depressing events happen all at once. I mean I can understand the beginning, but it sometimes goes WAY too far throughout the middle and end. I still really like the ending and think the moral to this film is done very well.
In an overall statement about this film in what I love and hate about it: I love the moral of the story, I love the actors, I love the supporting characters written in this film, and I love the direction. I think writer/director Dan Rush actually did a good job at putting together this film. What I hate about this film is mainly all the stuff that actually happens in the film. I'm not gonna name everything off, but I think the depressing events in the beginning were already enough for Nick Halsey to process that he screwed up and needs a change. As for the film itself, I would give it ***1/2, but as for my personal opinion about this film...
***
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