Film Review: Everything Must Go
Sep 11, 2011 04:55AM ● By Wendy Sipple
The premise of the film has the sound of a realistic horror movie to a lot of people, especially during these challenging economic times. Will Ferrel stars as Nick, a salesman who loses his job, house, car, and marriage in one single day. In addition to those events, his spouse puts a stop on of all their bank accounts, credit cards and cell phones rendering Nick not only homeless, but broke as well. All of his remaining belongings are left on the front yard, and he finds he has just three days to sell it all before he is arrested.
In a movie that is so plot driven, it takes little thought to drive huge holes in it. Doesn't Nick have any friends or family to turn to at all? Even all of his neighbors idly watch Nick sleep on his front yard rather than offer the least bit of help to him. As the movie continues, it becomes easier to understand why...Nick is a lousy person. He’s a drunk, apparently accused of murder and really treats few people well. So instead of feeling sorry for Nick I found myself thinking the guy got what he deserved. This feeling toward the lead character does not help the film as a whole.
Beyond not liking the lead character (Nick), the story went nowhere. It quickly became a film about a terrible man having a yard sale. Everything Must Go did not have much in the way of comedy, drama or tension. It got old watching Will Ferrel sit on his front yard drinking beer. The slow pace would have been understandable if the end result paid off in some meaningful way, but it doesn’t.
It was surprising to see a film with so little to offer have such an impressive cast. The talents of not only Will Ferrel, but Laura Dern, Stephen Root and Rebecca Hall are all but wasted in the movie. Dan Rush, who wrote and directed this movie must be quite the salesman to be able to assemble a cast of this caliber in his first film. Hopefully the story will be much stronger in his second film.
Despite the timely nature of the apparent job loss theme, Everything Must Go functions much better as a warning against becoming an alcoholic. Regardless of its intended meaning there is not much in the way of entertainment to help get the audience to the end of this film. Fans of Will Ferrel’s comedies will be sorely disappointed with this movie. If you enjoy slow moving indie dramas you may find the movie interesting, but on a whole I would recommend skipping this movie.
Films like Everything Must Go – Leaving Las Vegas, Closer and Lost in Translation
Justin Buettner is Style's resident movie dude! How did he get this role? Well, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts in film Production and a duel minor in Animation and Business with an emphasis in the entertainment field. He later went on to work on several independent films in various key roles including writer and later worked in the special effects field as a motion capture artist. He has since relocated to the Sacramento area with his family and continues writing for small independent films in addition to his movie reviews for Style Magazine.