Review of Everything Must Go (1996) by Jarrod N — 28 Jan 2012

"In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, but now, God knows, everything must goes!" Cole Porter aside, it's time for another wacky, off-the-wall comedy from everyone's favorite numbingly annoying manchild Will Ferrell as a crazy drunk getting into who knows what kind of shenanigans during this big, crazy yard sale. Man, as if that's not crazy enough, it co-stars Biggie Smalls' son, Smallie Bigs or whatever his name is. Heck, just to round everything off, they went out an got Rebecca Hall right off the set of her last delightful comedy exploit, Ben Affleck's "The Town". Okay, now that's where I draw the line with the joke, not because "The Town" was just too darn serious, but because I can't think of a whole lot of comedies that were that slow, except maybe "Napoleon Dynamite", but lord knows that I don't want to remember that ungodly experience. Hey, if there's anything that you can say about this opening joke, at least it's not as pointless as that abomination that could only be helped by something as exciting as Will Ferrell, and by that, I mean crazy manchild Will Ferrell, not this serious Will Ferrell, but really, that's probably the only time I would prefer manchild Ferrell over this version, because I'm digging on ol' Willie in this little number. Still, he's not unlike the alcohol his character's knocking back, in that not even he can fully wash away the problems in this film.

Much of the immediate exposition is delivered through interpretation and situtation meditation, rather than dialogue, and that would be fine and dandy and all, but the problem is that our characters are actively underdeveloped to produce mystery. Now, the problem behind that intentional underdeveloping isn't so much the lack of development itself, because this is development ignorance that genuinely works, but the problem is that the meditative exposition - which works best, if at all, when we're interpreting the actions of already developed characters - is contradictory to the film's development technique, leaving the limited development to feel inconsistent, and by extension, ineffective, leaving our investment in the characters to go limited for a great deal of the film until we finally get some delayed background. Don't get me wrong, it's great when we finally get to that point and all, but the road to that point is a rather bumpy and overly unfamiliar one, made even less smooth by dull spots that further slow the progression of the film. Sure, in all honesty, the film is quite well-paced, but really, that's most likely "because" of the storytelling problems, because with everything being so self-contradictory or just plain bumpy, time just slips by right under your nose and before you know it the film is over. Now, it's easy to get past that in most cases, but the film is further plagued by tonal, storyline and, heck, even score familiarity, leaving it to just blend into the collection of indie dramedies of this type, and while it could never bad or even as low as mediocre, it still doesn't stand too much of a chance at being terribly memorable, considering the flaws. However, as my reviews have taught us, you have to take the good with the bad; take the strengths into consideration, as well as the flaws, because if you do, in fact, take the strengths into consideration, you'll see that this film really is quite memorable and, well, genuinely compelling. This is not just because it's Will Ferrell in the occasional and very welcomed dramatic role, but because he picked a good movie to show off what he's got.

As overly familiar as this film is, if it's going to take from any indie genre, there's nothing quite like the indie dramedy, because whether it's the traditional material or just the integrity behind, there's always something charming about this type of film. Well, eitherway, material certainly has at least some influence on the charm of the film, because although this writing isn't necessarily stellar, it's pretty sharp, but in a very down-to-earth way, giving you a feeling of humanity in the humor, which of course adds to the building of the characters' comradery, of which there is plenty. There's no "real" human antagonist in the film, just people living their lives, as is the case with most cases of the real life that this film is trying to translate with as little histrionics as possible, and the filmmakers really make that work through carefully, yet believably-handled character interaction that builds chemistry, so that when genuine drama comes into play, you get an understanding of just who you're dealing with and what they are risking. This creates genuine emotional resonance that really touches, and if you want a really neat experience, then sit back and enjoy how the film takes many different components of its story and substance, bundles it all together into one single, resonant force and ultimately use that to deliver impact by the end. For this, we not only have to give credit to director/writer Dan Rush, but to his performers, few of whom are delivering terribly upstanding performances, but play their parts well enough in this machine to keep it pumping and delivering every step of the way. Of course, someone who is upstanding, and not just because he's going against type, is leading man Will Ferrell, who rarely has anything more to do than just be pretty darn charming, but when material does fall at his feet, he pulls out all stops and shows us just what we've been missing out of him all these years. I wish I could say that Ferrell is given more room to play up his acting material, for if we was, I would proudly evoke some of the finest performances of the year, but what material Ferrell is given to work with, he milks for all its worth, portraying this struggling alcoholic in a very realistic fashion, showing that his problem doesn't completely control his life, but plagues it enough to come in at just the worst moments and throw everything all kinds of out of wack, and Ferrell portrays a character going through a struggle like that with such sharp emotion to where the Nick Hasley isn't terribly exaggerated in his pain, but is still with enough palpable anguish that whenever things start going down, you feel nervous and curious as to what is to happen next, and if you see this film for "really" no other reason, don't see it for the charm or the staging of the emotional resonance or even Biggie Smalls' son showing that he's got some talent in him, but for Ferrell at least showing us very good signs that, if presented with genuine material, will go beyond the extra mile.

After everything's gone, you look back through all of the thematic inconsistencies, slow spots and genericism, and will find it fairly hard to mind it all, because what ultimately triumphs is the powerful charm in the writing and strong character chemistry, both of which eventually come into very sharp emotional play that is carried through and through by the performers - particularly our lead, a faith-inspiringly talented Will Ferrell - which isn't to say that they don't consistently help in making "Everything Must Go" the heartwarming charmer of an enjoyable experience that it is from beginning to end.

3/5 - Good.