Soooo it's going on a month since I actually saw this movie, but I'm still gonna review it because that's what I do, dammit. When I'm not doing something else. Or anything else, really. Whatever. I'm reviewing it now and that's all that matters. And then I can get on with writing opera commentaries and my X-Men: First Class review. And then I can see Green Lantern and weep bitter, bitter tears because it's apparently not the mind-blowingly awesome thrill-ride I hoped it would be.
I hate it when that happens.
In any case, Everything Must Go didn't get a wide release, so chances are you didn't hear much about it unless you've got a thing for low-key indie movies. So here's the trailer. Long story short: Will Ferrell plays Nick Halsey, a man who loses his job of sixteen years and then goes home to find that his wife (who is nowhere to be found) has changed the locks on their house and left all of his belongings out on the front lawn. Over the course of the movie, he befriends Biggie Smalls' son (no, seriously) and a pregnant lady who just moved in across the street, and turns the front lawn situation into a yard sale. The trailer gives it the appearance of an offbeat comedy about a man who is faced with Job-like trials but eventually learns that happiness doesn't come from your possessions blah blah blah and then he adopts Biggie Jr. and everyone hugs.
To the movie's credit, however, it reeeeally doesn't turn out that way.
I suppose I should be up front about something here: I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan. I can take him in small doses (like sketch comedy or cameo roles), but he's hardly ever my favorite part of any of his star vehicles. (Before you ask: no, I haven't seen Elf.) While I don't generally consider myself to be a humor snob, I can't help but notice that his main comedic tactic seems to be something along the lines of "I AM USING MY OUTSIDE VOICE IN A SITUATION WHICH WOULD NOT NORMALLY CALL FOR IT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" (And yes, I know that not all of those clips are Will Ferrell. But you get the idea.) Along the obnoxious scale, I find it to be somewhat akin to that one face that Jim Carrey makes in all of the horrifically awful cinematic abominations he calls "comedies"--you know, the one that screams "LOOK AT MY FACE! LOOK HOW WACKY I AM! LAUGH, YOU SLACK-JAWED ASSHOLES!"
And that's the problem. If you have to inform your audience that you're being hilarious or zany, chances are you're doing it wrong.
What I will say for Mr. Ferrell, however, is that he has a killer deadpan. Ridiculous things are (almost) always funnier when said with a completely straight face (see: River Tam) because it's so unexpected--and the whole point of comedy is to undermine expectations. By that logic, however, Everything Must Go should have been a pretty hilarious movie, because Will Ferrell doing an understated dramatic role is pretty unexpected. And you know what? He actually does a damn good job.
It's not going to win an Oscar for Best Picture or anything, because it's not that sort of film. The Oscars go for big things: big emotions, larger-than-life people/events, etc. This movie, on the other hand, takes a huge problem for millions of people worldwide and views it through the lens of a single, relatively unremarkable man. See, the thing that you don't really get from the trailer is that there's actually a reason for Nick's misfortunes throughout the movie. It's not a movie about a man with the worst luck in the world (that's been done already); it's a movie about alcoholism.
One of the things that I like so much about Everything Must Go is that it doesn't just come out and explain everything right away. You're dropped into a man's life on a day where everything is going wrong, but not really given much backstory or explanation. As the movie goes on, however, you see and hear things that fill in the holes--and you realize that the main character actually pretty much has it coming.
I also really like that the movie never reaches the histrionic emotional excesses of a number of other movies I've seen about alcoholism. I mean, there's some anger and there are a few confrontations, but for the most part it stays pretty low-key. You get the impression that Nick needs a steady stream of alcohol to feel like he's in control of his life, and yeah, he's kind of a dick sometimes, but his ugly side doesn't really show itself until he runs out of beer. It's a necessary reminder that a person doesn't have to be stumbling drunk all the time to be an alcoholic--Nick needs alcohol to operate at normal capacity, because that's what addiction does to people.
In general, the overall message of Everything Must Go seems to be that no matter how badly you fuck up your life, it's never too late to make a change for the better. It's by turns funny, depressing, and uncomfortable to watch, but it's remarkably emotionally honest. It's probably not in theaters anymore, but it's quite worthwhile if you feel like renting it.
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