Written and directed by Matthew Wiener
Starring Owen Wilson, Zack Galifianakis and Amy Poehler
Age difference between romantic leads: Owen Wilson to Laura Ramsay is 14 years, and Ramsay to Zack Galifianakis is 13 years. So super bad on both counts. But it's kind of part of the plot, ish.
There was a version of the poster that I could only find in a tiny size that literally had the three faces of the above people, the title of the movie and the words 'Amy. Owen. Zack.' on it, and that really sums up why I watched this. 3 likeable actors, all having made lots of wonderful stuff before. Adding to the calibre is that this is written and directed by the chap who created Mad Men and wrote some of The Sopranos. Safe hands, right?
Do not be fooled. Do not enter forth. Save yourself.
This is a bad film. It is a film that pays little heed to story, or structure, or logical character developments. It is a film that has no interest in entertaining you.
So we've got Owen Wilson, who is a stoner layabout and yet also a womanizer and successful weather man. He is selfish, which is great, because it's enjoyable to watch a flawed character redeem themselves. He has a kooky best friend, played by Zack Galifianakis, who grows weed and has rich parents. The dad dies, and they go to his funeral, where they meet Zack's sister, played by Amy Poehler, who is uptight and controlling and doesn't like Owen Wilson. We also meet their dad's widow: a young, attractive hippy (who is unnecessarily naked for a lot of the film). And then at the Will reading, the late father leaves his entire estate, including a farm shop and farm, to Zack. Amy Poehler isn't happy, and vows to contest the Will. So you've got some strong characters set up, an interesting situation where Amy Poehler is the bad guy trying to wrestle the farm away from the zany Zack, who'll need his friend Owen to help him learn to be a responsible grown up to keep control of the farm. I'm on board.
But then there's a court hearing where the judge rules in Zack's favour, instantly killing that story, and we move on to other, weird developments, a bullshit love triangle between a man, his best friend and his dad's widow (yep), and the film just dries up into a flat, unfunny, uninteresting whimper. It annoyed me, how little the film seemed to make sense. You should never be halfway through a film's running time and be thinking 'what's the story here? What story am I being told?' It kind of makes some nice points about friendship, but doesn't commit to them enough to make them stick. It's possible that because Matthew Wiener comes from more of a TV background, that writing a film didn't come easy. It almost seems like a group of TV episodes stuck together, which doth not a good film make.
I always watch films to the end unless I'm falling asleep, but I was really tempted to give up on this one. My wife did, and I can't blame her at all. And you should give up on it as well! Give up before you even try! I only wish the leads, all of whom I like, had done that as well. I give this film: