Hollywood has a rich history of well-known comic actors taking on more serious and weighty roles, from Robin Williams to Ben Stiller to Jim Carrey, and now Will Ferrell, in what is probably his very best performance to date. Everything Must Go bears a strong resemblance to Stiller's work in Noah Baumbach's Greenberg (2010), or Adam Sandler's in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love (2002), in its portrayal of a flawed but basically good-hearted man going through difficult times and coming out better for it. The difference between Ferrell and Sandler, of course, is that Ferrell's comedies generally don't suck; let's hope his next dramatic role lives up to the promise he shows here, lest he go the way of Sandler's maudlin turn in the absolutely awful Reign Over Me (2007).
Ferrell plays Nick Halsey, an alcoholic who loses his job at the beginning of the film and, after an ill-advised revenge against his asshole boss, Gary (Glenn Howerton, best known as Dennis on TV's best currently running sitcom, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), returns home to discover that his wife has left him. Not only that, she has locked him out of the house, frozen their joint bank account, and left all of his possessions out on the front lawn. Nick is understandably upset, and reacts in the defeated way that has apparently become his life's standard recourse: he buys a lot of beer and camps out in his La-Z-Boy on the lawn for the night. In the morning, having exhausted his beer supply and unable to find his car keys, he borrows a bicycle from his twelve-year-old neighbor, Kenny Loftus (Christopher Jordan Wallace), and heads down to the convenience store for more beer while Kenny keeps an eye on his stuff. Thus begins their unlikely, but never clichéd or sentimental, friendship.
Nick also befriends his new neighbor, Samantha (Rebecca Hall), a beautiful young photographer who has just moved by herself from New York, where her husband is wrapping things up at his company and promises to join her in Arizona as soon as possible. There are hints that their marriage is on the rocks, as when she tells Nick early on that her husband wants to name their unborn baby (with whom she is currently pregnant) Jack, after himself, a practice which she thinks is "kind of ridiculous." I found this especially ironic knowing that the excellent young actor who plays Kenny is in fact the son of the other Christopher Wallace, best known as The Notorious B.I.G. We also meet Nick's friend and former Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Frank Garcia (Michael Pena), when he rescues Nick from arrest by virtue of the fact that Frank is himself a higher-ranking officer than the ones sent to Nick's house on a complaint from his neighbors.
Frank allows Nick to remain living on his lawn for the next few days under the pretense that he is holding a yard sale; after that, if Nick can't get himself together, Frank will have no choice but to take him to jail. Clearly, this is not a plot-driven film, but that is not to say it isn't a very well-structured one; the yard sale provides the forward thrust for Nick's attempt to get his life back on track, and subtle details pay off in unexpected ways throughout. It is to the great credit of first-time writer-director Dan Rush that the film never takes the easy or expected routes, and it also takes its time in developing its characters and their relationships, all of which are nuanced and believable. The approach is well-suited to the author of its source material, the great Raymond Carver (best known in the film world as the inspiration for Robert Altman's brilliant 1993 film Short Cuts), and the film finds a perfect balance between poignancy and humor, both of which are equally effective when employed.
I will cheerfully admit to being a Ferrell fan - Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Step Brothers (2008) each made me laugh until I was in pain, and Stranger Than Fiction (2006) is probably the best Charlie Kaufman movie not written by Charlie Kaufman - but I would highly recommend this film even to those who ordinarily hate his work. As is the case with Williams and Carrey before him, Ferrell is a good enough actor to transcend the goofy, manic starring roles for which he became known and create a truly believable human being full of frailties and contradictions. This is an excellent addition to the pantheon of quiet, realistic films about perpetual screw-ups (almost always male - the best example I can think of with a female protagonist is Miguel Arteta's underrated 2002 film The Good Girl) trying to find their way.
Ferrell plays Nick Halsey, an alcoholic who loses his job at the beginning of the film and, after an ill-advised revenge against his asshole boss, Gary (Glenn Howerton, best known as Dennis on TV's best currently running sitcom, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), returns home to discover that his wife has left him. Not only that, she has locked him out of the house, frozen their joint bank account, and left all of his possessions out on the front lawn. Nick is understandably upset, and reacts in the defeated way that has apparently become his life's standard recourse: he buys a lot of beer and camps out in his La-Z-Boy on the lawn for the night. In the morning, having exhausted his beer supply and unable to find his car keys, he borrows a bicycle from his twelve-year-old neighbor, Kenny Loftus (Christopher Jordan Wallace), and heads down to the convenience store for more beer while Kenny keeps an eye on his stuff. Thus begins their unlikely, but never clichéd or sentimental, friendship.
Nick also befriends his new neighbor, Samantha (Rebecca Hall), a beautiful young photographer who has just moved by herself from New York, where her husband is wrapping things up at his company and promises to join her in Arizona as soon as possible. There are hints that their marriage is on the rocks, as when she tells Nick early on that her husband wants to name their unborn baby (with whom she is currently pregnant) Jack, after himself, a practice which she thinks is "kind of ridiculous." I found this especially ironic knowing that the excellent young actor who plays Kenny is in fact the son of the other Christopher Wallace, best known as The Notorious B.I.G. We also meet Nick's friend and former Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Frank Garcia (Michael Pena), when he rescues Nick from arrest by virtue of the fact that Frank is himself a higher-ranking officer than the ones sent to Nick's house on a complaint from his neighbors.
Frank allows Nick to remain living on his lawn for the next few days under the pretense that he is holding a yard sale; after that, if Nick can't get himself together, Frank will have no choice but to take him to jail. Clearly, this is not a plot-driven film, but that is not to say it isn't a very well-structured one; the yard sale provides the forward thrust for Nick's attempt to get his life back on track, and subtle details pay off in unexpected ways throughout. It is to the great credit of first-time writer-director Dan Rush that the film never takes the easy or expected routes, and it also takes its time in developing its characters and their relationships, all of which are nuanced and believable. The approach is well-suited to the author of its source material, the great Raymond Carver (best known in the film world as the inspiration for Robert Altman's brilliant 1993 film Short Cuts), and the film finds a perfect balance between poignancy and humor, both of which are equally effective when employed.
I will cheerfully admit to being a Ferrell fan - Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Step Brothers (2008) each made me laugh until I was in pain, and Stranger Than Fiction (2006) is probably the best Charlie Kaufman movie not written by Charlie Kaufman - but I would highly recommend this film even to those who ordinarily hate his work. As is the case with Williams and Carrey before him, Ferrell is a good enough actor to transcend the goofy, manic starring roles for which he became known and create a truly believable human being full of frailties and contradictions. This is an excellent addition to the pantheon of quiet, realistic films about perpetual screw-ups (almost always male - the best example I can think of with a female protagonist is Miguel Arteta's underrated 2002 film The Good Girl) trying to find their way.
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