Friday 21 August 2009

Review: The Goods

The Goods: Live hard, Sell Hard


This film stars Jeremy Piven as super-keen car salesman "Don Ready." He's an unstoppable machine on the car lot. Around him is assembled a team of crack salespeople from various walks of life, and together, they're mercenaries for hire who go in to boost dealership sales.

They get a call to go to some podunk town with a failing dealership, and no future, to sell some vehicles during the 4th of July long weekend.

That's the concept right there. The previews didn't entice me at all, but a friend wanted to see it so I went. The previews just made it look like wacky pandemonium all the time, but the movie is a little more structured than that. But only a little. I'm happy I was dragged along to figure that one out.

To me, it felt a little like a Family Guy episode in the way that there's constant tangents. Sometimes right out of the blue, like in the case of where a hate-crime was committed, the protagonists would start doing some wild things completely out of character. Then it would quickly be resolved with little to no laughter. Tangents are only good if the work! Why can't people understand that?

All the subplots, and I literally mean %100, were about sex. That's fine too, but only half of them were anywhere near entertaining, and rest ran their comedy gamut almost as soon as they were introduced.

Sometimes the 'comdey' was as painful to watch as a highschool student film or a new episode of the Simpsons. Long after a point of laughter (provided there was one) had been made they kept trying to drive it home; Over, and over, and over.

Finally, my biggest pet peeve is that you could see the boom microphone in several shots. It was right there for everyone to see. The microphone actually got more laughter during the movie than the supporting cast. I hope it got listed in the credits.

The film did however have a few excellent cameos. I won't ruin it here for anyone who wants to see the movie, but there's a surprise entrance that I know quite a few people will enjoy. Unless you get your movie ticket for free though I wouldn't go out of my just for the cameo.

Now because I got in for free, I can't really complain about getting ripped off. But I will say that I'm not sure it's worth the $8-11 for a ticket. This is at best a renter when you're stuck for a movie and have an ample quantity of illegal substances to inhale, snort, shoot, or eat while watching.

Final Verdict:

5/10

You'll get some laughs. If you're between the ages 13-18, or if you're a fan of those famous gratuitous booby shots, you'll probably really enjoy this one. Wanna be a cool aunt or uncle for your teenage nephew and his friends? Take him to see The Goods.

The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover

1 comment:

drollgirl said...

thanks for the heads up, i'll be skipping this one ENTIRELY!!!

but jeremy piven is really good in the entourage series. HUGE JERK. he plays that part real well!

hope you have a fab weekend, senor hammel!