I think that Will Ferrell is one of those actors that can do a pretty solid job of mixing comedy with drama, and I like when he plays human characters. Unfortunately here he is stuck in a movie that pretends to be this grounded character drama about a broken man who's lost everything, while it's actually just an absurd story that doesn't fit into any real context and meanders along until it thankfully comes to it's disastrous end. The film has a setup that I just couldn't get into at all. Based on a short story by Raymond Carver, Ferrell's Nick Halsey gets fired in the opening scene and then goes home to find out that his wife put all of his things on the lawn and changed the locks on the door. Halsey constantly makes a point of mentioning that he owns the house, so why doesn't he just call the police and have them let him in? Seems pretty simple. Even more simple given that his wife just isn't there anymore; why would she bother changing the locks and throwing his things on the lawn if she was just leaving? So right off the bat I wasn't on good terms with this one.
However, I can get past a rocky setup. Earlier this year, Hesher had a pitch that I didn't buy whatsoever, but it still managed to impress me with a strong character study and excellent performances. Everything Must Go, on the other hand, offers no redeeming qualities. After the ridiculous setup, we're loaded with scene after scene of painfully contrived moments that would just never happen. Rebecca Hall plays the clichéd stranger that randomly decides to become friends with the man who is living on his lawn drinking all day. Yeah, every pregnant woman does that. Christopher Jordan Wallace comes along as the young kid who needs a mentor and finds it in the creepy adult with no friends, one of the most idiotic clichés in film. There's a whole ten minute scene with Laura Dern's character that is of no consequence to the rest of the film, adds nothing to the character and is clearly there as filler to get the movie to a decent running time. It's just scene after scene of absurd moves that no one with half a brain could watch with any sense of genuine believability all led by a performance from Ferrell that couldn't have been more lazy and lifeless if he tried. A dreadful picture with absolutely nothing going for it.
However, I can get past a rocky setup. Earlier this year, Hesher had a pitch that I didn't buy whatsoever, but it still managed to impress me with a strong character study and excellent performances. Everything Must Go, on the other hand, offers no redeeming qualities. After the ridiculous setup, we're loaded with scene after scene of painfully contrived moments that would just never happen. Rebecca Hall plays the clichéd stranger that randomly decides to become friends with the man who is living on his lawn drinking all day. Yeah, every pregnant woman does that. Christopher Jordan Wallace comes along as the young kid who needs a mentor and finds it in the creepy adult with no friends, one of the most idiotic clichés in film. There's a whole ten minute scene with Laura Dern's character that is of no consequence to the rest of the film, adds nothing to the character and is clearly there as filler to get the movie to a decent running time. It's just scene after scene of absurd moves that no one with half a brain could watch with any sense of genuine believability all led by a performance from Ferrell that couldn't have been more lazy and lifeless if he tried. A dreadful picture with absolutely nothing going for it.