The Details

I rarely write reviews but this movie was like a breath of fresh air! Why aren't there movies with the kind of play and irony and humor of this one? It kept me on the edge of my seat and was constantly changing in pacing, in story, in tone. I love this movie! Laura Linney should win an award for her performance and Ray Liotta has never been given a chance to be so good. Tobey Maguire finally has grown up and moved into a whole new level as an actor. I love this film. I wish there were more like this because most of what I see is so canned or boring or both. How does one go about recommending a film for an award? If anyone has any idea, please post it here. Ms Linney has to be put up for one. Love it!

When I think of dark comedies, I think of everything from Dr. Strangelove to Harold and Maude. Dark, but comic. This film has all the humor and charm of getting hit by a garbage truck. Each one of the characters we see is singularly unlikable to the extreme, beginning with the married couple who stay together even though they can't stand each other, don't want to sleep with each other (the wife, anyway), but feel free to sleep with anybody else they can get their hands on. People called Gone Girl the "date night movie for people who never want to marry." This garbage is the "date night movie for people who never want to date." The two, morally bankrupt creeps married to each other in this film deserve each other, and everybody else we see on the screen deserves to be avoided at all costs. I guess I've seen worse films than this, but I can't think of a film in recent memory that's made me so incredibly angry as this infuriating mess. View at your own risk. Ick!

Tobey Maguire (miscast, got no business playing opposite anybody as hot as Elizabeth Banks, but still it sort of works) is a doctor who gets himself in what appears to be a minus five sit-com. The absurdity had me wanting to get up and leave 4 or 5 times, but just when I thought all was beyond hope, Toby uses his Prius to commit the murder of an errant raccoon, and confesses everything including complicity in a murder, to his wife. It is an absolutely outstanding scene, and lifted me up out of the muck I'd been wallowing in. Suffice it to say that his troubles are initiated by the continuing irritant of excessive bureaucratic government regulations and social pressures (he lives in Seattle and the Prius has an Obama sticker on the bumper, and he's even afraid to hose a raccoon much less shoot it. Guns...ick.) After reciting the litany of his transgressions and betrayals to her in the car, he says, "OK, so far that's the good news". The last 10-15 minutes are priceless and worth the muck to get there. Elizabeth Banks is superb in that scene, and Laura Linney is great throughout as the neurotic, obnoxious next door neighbor. There is also a good scene with Ray Liotta that sort of sets up Maguire's catharsis. Could also be titled, "The Devil is in the Details", "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", "The Truth Shall Set You Free--Sort Of", or "Wherefore Absolution?". The philosophical and moral issues it raises could start at least half a dozen arguments all by themselves. EDIT ADD: I watched this a second time and, knowing what happens makes the first part not seem so sit-com....ish. The excellent scene with Liotta on the Skagit R. Bridge starts the second half of the movie which justifies the first. I don't know what could be done to fix it, except maybe make sure people watch the preview first, which I hadn't. Whatever, just watch it! This could actually become a cult classic, something we haven't had many worthwhile examples of for a good while.

GREAT MOVIE! Outstanding Performances all around! Toby Maguire really brings this character to life. What begins as a quirky stroll into the lives of a thirty something married couple dealing with some invasive raccoons's,becomes a spider web tapestry of life's bizarre struggles and the harrowing results of our choices. In excellent supporting roles, Ray Liotta and Laura Linney shake up every frame they are in. This story is equally filled with moments of laughter and pain! The best aspect of this film is how it starts out one way, seemingly simple, and then takes you on a wild ride with its characters revealing more and more about their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This is what indie film-making is all about.