This is a great Saturday night film. It borders somewhere between comedy and dramedy in that the topic veers often towards the all-too-serious before falling back into the comical.
Aaron Eckhart plays 'Bill'. Bill married the bank executive's daughter. Bill has it all but doesn't have much respect from his wife's family. His in-laws basically think of him as a peon. When Bill's wife cheats on him, things get a little rough. I have to give the writer and director kudos for not driving the film into the conventional 'another shot at life' take here i.e. character falls to the bottom, builds himself up by cutting off all ties.
He does build himself back up, but the pacing is subtle, real, human. Life is life, right, and Bill manages to pull himself together without making big dramatic scenes (a la Jerry Maguire) or bringing us some touching, knee-jerk morals and last minute epiphanies. He stumbles, breaks down and when you figure he'll win the girl in the end, he just wins himself.
The 'Kid' here is fun, Bill learns a lot from him but again, no morals, no 'kid knows best' B.S. here. The film dodges a few of the main clichés we see in most movies.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It isn't meant to be serious and it could have been. The writing is fun, the directing is fun, the characters are fun. What's wrong with fun?
Aaron Eckhart plays 'Bill'. Bill married the bank executive's daughter. Bill has it all but doesn't have much respect from his wife's family. His in-laws basically think of him as a peon. When Bill's wife cheats on him, things get a little rough. I have to give the writer and director kudos for not driving the film into the conventional 'another shot at life' take here i.e. character falls to the bottom, builds himself up by cutting off all ties.
He does build himself back up, but the pacing is subtle, real, human. Life is life, right, and Bill manages to pull himself together without making big dramatic scenes (a la Jerry Maguire) or bringing us some touching, knee-jerk morals and last minute epiphanies. He stumbles, breaks down and when you figure he'll win the girl in the end, he just wins himself.
The 'Kid' here is fun, Bill learns a lot from him but again, no morals, no 'kid knows best' B.S. here. The film dodges a few of the main clichés we see in most movies.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It isn't meant to be serious and it could have been. The writing is fun, the directing is fun, the characters are fun. What's wrong with fun?